


The Long Way Back

by fio



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Reality, Falling In Love, Gladiator Shiro, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Omega Keith (Voltron), Pregnant Sex, Trans Keith (Voltron), rapid pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 21:27:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 40,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11906535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fio/pseuds/fio
Summary: As a gladiator, and now Champion, Shiro has given up hope of ever returning to Earth. But when his captors deliver his 'prize'—an omega, a descendant of both Galran and Altean blood used by the Galra to breed with the strongest aliens they capture—he's offered a chance to escape.There's just one catch: Shiro has to get him pregnant to do it.





	The Long Way Back

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so, so much to both of my artists who were so patient with me getting this done and working so amazingly quick! Please please absolutely take a look at their amazing pieces, the first by [synesthetecas on tumblr here](http://synesthetecas.tumblr.com/post/164613107446/what-do-you-know-about-earth-my-art-for-the) and the second by [goryghostieguts on tumblr here.](http://goryghostieguts.tumblr.com/post/164613147065/heres-my-piece-for-the-the-sheith-big-bang-made)
> 
> This is my first completed big bang ever so I'm super excited about this super self-indulgent fic lol. There WILL be an epilogue for this, probably sometime after my second big bang goes up, so stay tuned for that. ;)
> 
> A heads up since someone asked the big bang mod, clit is used for the explicit scenes with Keith.

_Champion._

The word brings no honor and no feelings of victory. Countless creatures are dead by his hand and Shiro has no idea who they were, what they were, or why they were there in that ring. But he is the last one alive, and so he is called their champion.

But the accommodations for the champion are not glamorous. It's still a cell and it's still dark, empty and uncomfortable, save for a bed made of material that's slightly less hard and cold than the metal floor. He's tossed inside it the same as he's been tossed into every other cell they've put him in, and he slumps on the floor, exhausted and uncertain if he's done the right thing.

He fought because he didn't want to die, but maybe dying would be better than this.

The guards usually only come to bring him food or escort him to and from the ring, but he hears the footsteps of approaching guards soon after he's been brought to his new cell. Will they make him fight again so soon? Do they have any prisoners left that he hasn't killed?

Three bodies come to a stop outside his cell door. Two are familiar, tall and armored, with weapons on their hips. One is new.

"Here's your prize, Champion," one of them says as the door temporarily opens, tossing the smaller alien inside.

They land on their hands and knees but scramble to their feet, yellow eyes huge and frantic as they flit back and forth between the guards and Shiro. They're naked, Shiro is quick to notice, wearing neither the prisoner clothing Shiro was given nor the armor of the guards, and it makes Shiro wonder for a moment if Galra outside of the gladiator arena are all naked, too. The thought is brushed away by the guards' laughing as the _prize_ rushes at the door. It's not made of steel and bars like prisons back on Earth but of light and electricity. Shiro had once made the mistake of believing it would be easy to pass through, then another mistake of thinking he could withstand the pain and force his way through after that. It brightens with a loud crack when the alien touches it, sending them recoiling back a few steps with a hiss of pain.

"Don't be an idiot," the guard on the left says. The other one is grinning, enjoying the poor alien's pain and desperation. The one who spoke then looks over at Shiro and points at his new cellmate. "He enters his heat soon. However your species reproduces, he'll be receptive. Have fun."

Shiro understands with immediate horror what his intended _prize_ is and stares at him with wide eyes. The guards leave, laughing as they go, and the alien wastes no time before attacking the door again.

About the tenth time the alien hurts himself attempting to somehow defeat the door, Shiro tries to dissuade him from doing it again. "You don't have to do that," he calls out, making his cellmate whip around and eye him warily. "I won't touch you. What they brought you here for, I don't want it. I won't touch you, okay?"

The alien stays frozen and silent except for the narrowing of his eyes. If it were his first day here, Shiro might have worried that the alien couldn't understand what he said. But Shiro's been able to communicate through human language since he got here—he's still not sure if it's technology or magic or special alien biology that makes it possible—so he's certain the alien understands him. That he _believes_ what Shiro says is doubtful, though.

"You can even have the bed if you want," he says with a hand motion over at the mattress in the corner as his new cellmate keeps glaring at him. "I don't care." He sighs, his whole body sagging as the air leaves his chest and he realizes how true those words are. He doesn't have anything left in him to make him care.

His eyes close slowly and his head falls back against the cold wall, his exhaustion tugging him towards sleep. He notices only now that the usual din of other prisoners' yelling, sobbing, muttering and laughing that he's so used to isn't there, and it makes it more difficult to fall asleep. The alien stuck in here with him to be his prize is silent too, for the moment giving up on trying to force his way through the door.

Shiro's tired thoughts drift to guessing what species he is. He looks Galran like the guards, with the yellow eyes and purple skin. Or is it fur? Too far away to tell and he's clearly not the type to answer if Shiro asked. He has hair though, a moppy almost-mullet that's black in color, and ears on the small side rather than the big bat-like ones Shiro's seen on some of the guards, so maybe he's half-something else. It would explain why he's been given to the champion as a prize, since no Galra have been seen in the ring or in the other cells in Shiro's time here. Only the "lesser" aliens get that privilege, which out here includes humans.

His mind eventually settles down and stops thinking about his cellmate, but despite his exhaustion he can't get to sleep. It feels like a long time passes in the dark and quiet before he hears the soft, muted sound of his guest starting to move.

Shiro listens with the trained ear of a survivor of the ring, noting the weight and timing of the noises. The alien is crouching as he moves, and by the sound of it, towards Shiro, sneaking like an animal on the hunt in tall grass. Shiro keeps his eyes closed and forces his body to stay relaxed, but he has an idea of what the alien is about to try.

The movements stop and Shiro keeps his breathing even and easy, his eyes still closed.

The next second, hands wrap tight around Shiro's neck and he reacts by tipping his whole body sideways to throw the alien off balance, his own hands grabbing the alien by the wrists as Shiro turns them over and slams him onto his back. Shiro sits hard on his chest and forces the breath out of him, making his eyes go wide. The alien keeps trying to scratch at his face or his throat even though Shiro easily keeps his arms held still above his head.

"I told you, I won't touch you. That didn't mean you should _come attack me_."

"Get off!" the alien yells, startling Shiro but not enough to make him loosen his grip.

"Only if you promise to stay on the other side of the cell."

"Fine!" he grunts but he doesn't stop struggling and Shiro's not an idiot.

"I'm not letting you go unless you quit trying to attack me."

"I'll quit when you get off of me!"

Shiro sighs, realizing this is getting them nowhere. Keeping the alien's wrists tightly in his grip, Shiro stands and pulls him up onto his feet along with him. The alien looks surprised at being handled so easily for a second before the scowl returns and he kicks out at Shiro's belly. Shiro releases him with a shove to avoid getting hit and steps back against the opposite wall at the same time, making sure there's a decent amount of space between them.

"How's that? Better?"

" _No_ ," the alien spits and Shiro winces. Of course it's not better. They're still stuck together in a prison cell, and the alien is here to serve as his toy. It makes Shiro sick as he slides slowly down against the wall until he's sitting down again and slumps over his folded up knees.

"I'm sorry," he mutters. "Stupid question to ask."

He's not sure why he even bothered defending himself other than out of reflex after so much time in the arena. But he'd been wondering if he was better off dead just a little while ago and if this alien wants to kill him, maybe it's not such a bad idea to let him do it. He can't imagine getting out of here, and even if he does, what's left for him outside of this place? He entertains the idea for a minute or two—a quick, quiet death in the dark with no audience to cheer for his blood as it spills—but it doesn't take long to dismiss it. The alien acted out of desperation, but Shiro won't make him bear the same guilt now settled in his gut after all the death he's caused. It does make him wonder though, about how strong his instinct to keep living still is when he can't think of anything worth living through more of this hell for.

After a while of sitting there hunched over himself, Shiro realizes the silence has stretched on for quite some time and he doesn't know what his cellmate is doing now. Careful to move slowly and not startle him, Shiro shifts, sitting up to lean his head back against the wall. He sees the alien has shuffled over to the mattress, having given up on breaking through the door for now, and is focusing his bright yellow eyes on Shiro.

Shiro runs a hand through his hair, ruffling his bangs. "Hey," he says, hit by a sudden thought. The alien jumps a bit but says nothing, his eyes narrowing. "You have a name?"

He's not sure if he expects an actual answer or not. Most of the aliens he's met have either been guards, who he has no interest in making small talk with, or other prisoners and combatants who are usually busy being terrified for their lives before getting tossed into the arena or otherwise too dead to make introductions. This particular alien is also clearly not happy to be here with him, so Shiro isn't surprised when he doesn't get a word out of him at all.

"I'll tell you mine first if you want," Shiro offers, hoping to encourage him. "I'm Takashi Shirogane, but I usually just go by Shiro. Everyone introduced in the arena gets called by their species, and I never hear the guards call each other anything, at least around me, so I'm starting to wonder if you use names. It kind of gets confusing without them though, I'd think. Do you guys out here have first and last names, too? Or names at all?"

The alien doesn't respond to his babbling, but he doesn't attack him for it either, so that's progress. Shiro folds his arms over his knees and rests his chin on top of them, watching the alien curiously as he is observed in return. It's getting a bit tiresome just thinking of this new cellmate as _alien_ , so Shiro had been hoping to get a name. But if he isn't going to offer it or say anything else, Shiro only has one solution.

"I'll take that as a 'no.' So... Can I call you Fluffy?"

Fluffy immediately fluffs up in annoyance, his shoulders hunching and his ears flattening against his head as his hackles visibly rise.

"It's _Keith_."

Shiro opens his mouth to tease about how easy it was to give that answer, but the words die in his throat. He frowns, trying to process it. He couldn't have heard that right.

"It's what?"

"Keith," the alien says again. But instead of reassuring Shiro that he isn't going deaf, it just makes him fear that he's beginning to hallucinate. His bewilderment is obvious, and the alien— _Keith_ , apparently, even though there's no way that's right—starts to bristle again at whatever face Shiro is making. " _What_?"

"Sorry. Sorry, I just. I think something's snapped or... I don't know, maybe it's the exhaustion, or the space magic that translates for us just broke down, but... I keep hearing you say Keith."

"You wanted my name, and I gave it to you. What's wrong with it?" Keith asks, affronted.

Shiro flounders again, then shrugs. "It just. Really sounds like something from back home, that's all." Keith glares at him and Shiro laughs awkwardly, trying for a joke, "If Keith's an alien name nowadays, the next baby naming fad back on Earth is going to be out of this world."

But there's no laughing, even if he didn't really expect it. Instead Keith's eyes go wide before his whole body tenses, and suddenly Shiro feels like he's facing down a lion, ready to spring on him and rip him to shreds. For a second, Shiro genuinely worries his bad joke is going to get him killed.

"What do you know about Earth?"

The question is not at all what he expects and Shiro's not sure how else to respond to it except by being honest.

"Um, I'd say a fair amount, since I'm _from_ Earth." Shiro tilts his head, surprised by the alien's sudden sharp scrutiny. Keith looks doubtful, his eyes examining Shiro from where he sits. Shiro had figured that the Galra didn't care enough to know who or what species they were grabbing to throw into their games, just that they had enough bodies to satisfy the audience's bloodlust. "Why? What do _you_ know about Earth?"

Without answering, Keith stands abruptly from the bed and walks towards him. Shiro brings his hands up out of reflex to defend himself and Keith pauses a few steps away as he realizes he's put Shiro on his guard, then drops onto his knees and shuffles over to Shiro's side slowly in his attempt to appear less aggressive. Now _he's_ the one being treated like a wild animal. Shiro's so thrown off by sight of Keith walking on his knees that he forgets to stay defensive, his arms lowering and leaving himself unprotected.

But Keith doesn't attack him, instead leaning into Shiro's space so he can whisper, "Are you human?"

He's too stunned and confused to speak, but manages to nod. Keith pulls back for a moment to stare into his face and Shiro sees in Keith's expression that he's being sized up, weighed as an option of some kind. Keith reaches his decision and leans in again.

"If you can take me to Earth, I'll get you out of here."

Shiro's chest squeezes in shock, forcing a harsh exhale as his lungs feel suddenly crushed by the weight of it. He hasn't thought about escaping this hell hole in ages, and his gut reaction is to not believe this alien who he doesn't know and who doesn't trust him in the first place. But he's surprised again by how strong his instinct to keep surviving is. He wants to get out. He wants to be _free_ , even if he doesn't deserve it anymore.

"How?" He can barely hear himself over his own heart hammering.

"Will you take me or not?" Keith demands impatiently. Shiro wants to answer _yes, of course, anything you want_ if it means he can go home but even in his shock, Shiro knows he can't promise anything.

"I don't... I don't know if I can. I have no idea where in the galaxy we are. I'd need a map, not to mention a ship."

Keith looks satisfied by his honesty. "I can get you both. I know a way out of the cell block and where the ships are held, and I have my father's star map."

"Okay, that sounds... like decent _parts_ to a plan," Shiro says as politely as he can, "but how do we get past the door in the first place? Y'know, the one you threw yourself at a dozen times and only managed to hurt yourself on."

Keith grimaces down at the floor. "We trick the guards into coming into the cell."

"And how do we do that?" Shiro asks. 

"We have to have sex," Keith says, sounding annoyed, and Shiro's gut flips uncomfortably.

".... What?"

Keith sighs, as if Shiro should already understand and having to explain is a hassle. "The guards aren't supposed to observe or interfere with the prisoners they toss in here because the whole point is breeding with us during our heats, but they break that rule all the time to join in. They have to wait until the omegas are pregnant though, so we have to have sex until that happens and then when they open the doors to come in, we kill them and get out of here."

Keith is using a few words that Shiro isn't sure he understands, but he gets the main idea, and he's very, very alarmed.

"That can't be the _only_ — what about when they bring us food? Or when they come to get me for a new match? Or, or— " Shiro's voice is cracking as he whispers this, but Keith is solemnly shaking his head.

"You're the champion, they won't bring you out for regular matches anymore, and heats can affect any Galra so guards aren't allowed in until the sensors in these chambers can read that it's over. Food will be delivered by bot instead."

"Can we use the bots? To break the door?"

"Yes, because they're definitely going to send us tools that we can use to break the door as if they haven't been running prisons for millennia," Keith deadpans.

Shiro knows he shouldn't be surprised that aliens can use sarcasm, but it really isn't helping things right now. He runs a shaky hand through his hair, already out of alternatives. Keith is still sitting close, and Shiro is now feeling hyper aware of how naked he is so he stands and pulls off his ripped tunic to drop it on Keith's head.

"Wear that," he says as he walks to the other side of the cell, hoping the space will help himself think. The tunic isn't much bigger than a t-shirt, but the less naked Keith is while Shiro tries to dissuade him from this idea of his, the better.

"What are you doing?" Keith asks after a few minutes of Shiro staring at the wall and occasionally bumping his forehead against it. Shiro glances at him and notices he still hasn't bothered to put on the tunic.

"Trying to come up with something. Anything. There has to be some other option."

"You don't think I've thought this through?" Keith asks with sudden venom.

"No, of course you have," Shiro says, turning away from the wall and pacing between the door and the mattress. "And I do believe you, y'know, that you know a way to get out of here and can get a ship that'll take us to Earth and everything, but I'm not going to— I-I can't—" Shiro waves his hands around in front of him, trying to pull the words out, but they don't come and he gives up with a defeated groan. He stops pacing and drops down into a crouch, hands pushing up through his hair as he stares down at the cell floor. "How do they even know I can get you pr—... pregnant?" he asks, whispering the last word as if just mentioning it will make it happen. "I'm human, you're Galra; we're two completely alien species, it shouldn't be possible! What are they even trying to breed me for?"

"You've impressed the generals and survived long enough that they think you're worth taking some genes from, just like all the other champions" Keith answers. The guards had delivered Keith and called him a prize, but it's sounding more like Shiro is the prized bull they want to breed more champions from and Keith is just the unlucky guy who got stuck with the job. But despite nearly a year of adjusting out of necessity to the alien circumstances he'd been forced into, Shiro is having a harder time wrapping his mind around this than anything he's faced in the arena. He almost doesn't hear it when Keith continues, "And they wouldn't throw me in here if I couldn't get pregnant. Omegas can conceive with any species, and they don't know it, but it'll probably be even easier for us."

The chaos of Shiro's thoughts suddenly slams to a halt. A picture starts to form out of the pieces he'd been too overwhelmed to realize belonged to a puzzle—Keith's knowledge of Earth, his immediate interest in Shiro after finding out he's from there, Shiro's absent thoughts about how different from other Galra he seemed. Shiro lifts his head and stares at Keith, taking in his purple skin and glowing yellow eyes.

"You don't look it but you're part human, aren't you?" he says, which is probably insensitive, but his brain is overclocking trying to keep up with all the things Keith is telling him. He doesn't really have the resources for tact at the moment.

Keith bristles again just like Shiro expects, but he says nothing and turns his eyes downward to his fists, clenched around Shiro's tunic. He looks frustrated with what he sees, and then squeezes his eyes shut. Guilt starts to well up in Shiro's chest, because he doesn't know what being part human could mean here, especially when all Shiro knows is how cruel Galra are to those who _aren't_ Galra, but before he can try and come up with an apology, he realizes Keith isn't just despairing. He's concentrating. Gradually, his ears start to shrink and his body begins to change color, from dark purple to a tone closer to Shiro's. When Keith opens his eyes after a few moments, they aren't full of Galra yellow anymore. Just like the rest of him, they look strikingly human.

He is also incredibly naked, the tunic Shiro had dropped on him covering his lap, but not much else, his chist still flat but his nipples pink and visible now, no longer hidden by the Galra fur—or was it skin? Shiro still isn't sure. 

Keith fidgets in his new appearance and stares down at his hands as he turns them over, pinches at himself. He looks up at Shiro slowly, but defiant.

"Do I... look human now?"

"Yeah," is all Shiro can say, winded. He hasn't seen another human for... he can't remember how long. He was separated from the Holts soon after they were brought to this prison and he has no idea how much time has passed, just that it feels like ages.

Keith tries to hide it by turning his face down towards his lap again, but Shiro catches the pleased look he makes when Shiro answers. It makes Shiro wonder about how long he's wanted to do this transformation, or if he's ever done it before.

"Will it be easier for you to fuck me if I look like this then?" Keith asks bluntly, and the question is so startling Shiro's breath catches in his throat and sends him into a sputtering fit until he falls back on his ass and has to lie on the hard, uncomfortable floor for a minute to catch his breath.

When he's no longer choking on air, he sighs and says, "Listen, Keith, I want to help you. I want to get out of here, too, but I can't... I can't _get you pregnant_ to do it. And even if we get a ship—"

"Why not?" Keith interrupts, his face scrunching up in annoyance as if that's the least troublesome part of the entire idea. 

Shiro balks and pushes up on his elbows, looking over at Keith incredulously. "Do you know how long it could take us to get to Earth from here? I don't know where in the galaxy we are— or if we're even in the same galaxy! We'd be fugitives, and surviving like that only gets exponentially harder when there's a _child_ involved." He's also feeling pretty unprepared for the whole 'being a father to an alien baby' thing, but he doesn't mention it. He gets the vibe Galra don't have the same hang ups about teenage pregnancy that humans do.

But Keith just levels him with a tired look. "The only way I get out of here without getting pregnant is because you're too dead or impotent to do it."

Another lightbulb begins to illuminate, Shiro's overwhelmed brain connecting more dots.

"... Is that why you attacked me? You were going to kill me so you wouldn't have to do this?"

"Yes," Keith answers with terrifying ease. He pushes onto his feet, the tunic falling from his lap as he stands fully naked now. Shiro forces his eyes to stay on Keith's face as Keith walks toward him, but it's hard not to see all of him when he stops at Shiro's side and stares down at him. "But I changed my mind. Unless you suck at reading maps and can't get me anywhere, I won't give birth soon enough that we'll be bogged down by an infant, and you can't help me at all if you're dead, so I'd rather we just get this over with. My heat will end as soon as I'm pregnant, so the quicker you can make that happen, the easier it'll be for us both."

Shiro lies still for a long time, considering his options. He can stay in this prison until either his cellmate or some other alien in the ring kills him, or he can father an alien baby for the _chance_ to escape and _possibly_ get back to Earth, as long as this map Keith claims to have is readable and the ship they find doesn't get shot down. He grimaces, bringing his left hand up to rub over his face tiredly.

The long term consequences are too much to process right now, so he tries to think about his immediate options: death or survival. The desperate pull in his gut that he can't believe is still there tells him to try for survival.

After a while of them both staying silent, he asks from beneath his hand, "You really trust me to get you to Earth?"

"You're my only option, so I have to," Keith says, not sounding too enthusiastic about it. It makes Shiro laugh. 

Shiro uncovers his face and Keith holds out his hand. Shiro reaches for him after a moment and lets Keith tug him to his feet, not sure what else to do, and follows as he's led towards the mattress.

"Well?" Keith asks when they reach it.

Shiro blinks at him, confused. "What?" 

"Are you going to get naked so we can get on with it or what?"

"Oh. Right."

He strips out of his prisoner bodysuit slowly, still struggling to process that he's actually going through with this, while Keith watches him with mild curiosity the way some would stare at a hangnail they wanted to clip off. The disinterest is somewhat of a relief, weirdly enough. He'd be too self-conscious to let someone who remembered him from _before_ see him like this—scarred, disfigured, _different_ —but to Keith his body is nothing interesting at all, not even the replacement arm that's been forcibly sewn into him.

It doesn't help with the mood at all though, and Shiro feels the least sexy he ever has even though he's about to have sex. Keith's human eyes—are they brown? black? Shiro can't tell in the poorly lit cell, just that they're dark and more comforting than the alarming Galra yellow—drift lazily from Shiro's arms to his belly and then settle on his soft dick as he finishes stepping out of his clothing. He doesn't have that much experience to reference, but Shiro's pretty sure getting naked for sex isn't supposed to feel like he's volunteering to be dissected like a frog in science class.

"... Doesn't look so bad," Keith mumbles to himself, but they're not standing very far apart and even if they were on opposite sides of the cell, Shiro's hammered-in reflex to be alert at all times wouldn't have let him miss it.

"What?" Shiro asks, hands instinctively moving to cover himself. There's a lot of him currently on display though so he's not quite sure where to put them.

Keith ignores his question and instructs casually, "Hurry up and get started," before turning his back to Shiro and dropping down onto his hands and knees atop the mattress. 

But Shiro just kind of gawks. He's torn between his horror at what Keith has resigned himself to doing, his own bewildered disbelief that sex with an alien is his only way out of this prison, and the absolute lack of any sexual appeal in this encounter, to the point he's not sure he'll be able to perform at all.

In his time trapped alone in his cell or fearing for his life in the arena, he never imagined _limp dick_ would be the reason he couldn't go home.

But Keith doesn't have much in the way of patience. After a minute of Shiro's blank staring at Keith's ass on display without doing anything, Keith clicks his tongue against his teeth and prompts, "Would you hurry it up?"

"It doesn't— _I_ don't work like that," Shiro sighs. Keith turns himself over to glare at Shiro's unmotivated dick, as if all it needs to get going is a long, hard look. There's a bit of guilt for looking Keith's body over now that Shiro has more to focus on than just his ass, but he's just as naked and Keith's eyes are glued to his private parts, so they're in pretty much the same boat. He hasn't hooked up with many people, but he knows what someone looks like when they're turned on, and Keith looks just as uninterested in this as Shiro and his dick are at the moment. "And y'know, if you're supposed to be able to... procreate like a human too, you won't work like this either."

"What do you mean?" As he asks, Keith's eyes do a slow crawl up Shiro's chest that makes his dick jump a little against his thigh. Shiro's not sure if he feels relieved or mortified about it.

He clears his throat and gestures awkwardly at Keith's crotch. "Humans usually need lubricant, but you don't look wet right now."

"Oh," Keith says, following Shiro's eyes. He grimaces down at himself before rolling onto his belly, folding his arms to hide his face in them. "That won't be a problem when my heat starts. Just get on with it whenever you _do_ get yourself working."

Shiro stands there awkwardly for another moment, looking down at Keith's lean frame. If they were worlds away, on some planet where they were safe and chose each other, he thinks he would feel lucky to be with someone so beautiful. But in this cell, dark and damp and trapped together by the whims of others, there's nothing but guilt and dread at the thought of having to embrace him. He still doesn't fully understand what it's going to entail either, which isn't helping with the dread and worrying. 

Making sure to leave some space between them, Shiro climbs down onto the mattress and lays on his back with his hands on his stomach. He looks up at the ceiling that's just as metallic and uninteresting as the rest of the cell and wonders how long it's been since he's seen a sky above his head instead of a prison. Thinking of constellations, he squeezes his eyelids until he can pretend the dots he sees are stars.

Belatedly he realizes he's making himself extremely vulnerable and lying down next to someone who attacked him with intent to kill earlier, but the tension that keeps him alive in the arena is still thrumming through him, like a switch he's incapable of turning off, and he knows he'll be able to react quickly to any movement. Besides, he gets the feeling that unless Keith is _extremely_ weird and sadistic, he doesn't have to worry about getting attacked again. As unbelievable as this whole plan sounds, it's even harder to believe Keith would make it up just for the sake of getting Shiro naked before trying to kill him.

Keith shifts beside him after a while, and Shiro's muscles tense out of reflex, but he stays still with his eyes shut and waits for Keith to speak.

"Are you sure you're not impotent? Because that kind of ruins the whole plan."

Shiro peeks at him briefly and sees Keith is staring at his dick again. "Not unless the people who gave me the arm also messed with my junk, but from what you've been telling me, that seems like the complete opposite of what they want."

Keith hums thoughtfully. Shiro wonders if Keith knows anything about the arm the Galra had put on him. He considers asking, since it's reasonable to assume that prisoners getting experimented on is a common thing with the way the Galra treat them, but Shiro hasn't met anyone else in the arena who's been "enhanced" the same as him so far. But the question never quite makes it past his tongue, his throat squeezing tight at the idea of talking about what they've done to him. He hasn't ever done it before, he realizes. Hard to, when there's no one around who isn't a guard who treats you like an animal or someone trying to kill you.

But the question is pushed even further back in his mind when after a few minutes of silence, Keith grabs Shiro's dick and tugs it painfully, like it's a handle to a door he's impatiently trying to open. 

" _Ow_!" Shiro yelps, jolting upright and grabbing Keith by the wrist to stop him.

"What? Did I do it wrong?" Keith frowns, his fist squeezing where it's still grabbing around Shiro's cock and Shiro's mouth drops open in a wordless whimper.

"Yes! Please... don't do that again," Shiro says weakly. He doesn't know if it's curiosity or just defiance, but Keith doesn't listen. He doesn't tug this time, but he moves his hand down Shiro's cock and keeps his grip tight. Shiro gasps, his muscles pull taut and his robotic fingers twitch where he's still wrapping them around Keith's wrist. "Fuck, wait—" 

"So it works like _this_ then? Why didn't you just say so?"

Shiro groans, the sound pushed out of him by the sharp and sudden pleasure that rises in his gut when Keith keeps his hand moving. Shiro hasn't touched himself in ages and it's been even longer since someone else has, and maybe it's the shock of it that suddenly has him so hard when up until a minute ago he couldn't have felt less turned on. He wants to stop Keith, guilt and unease running through him to counter the pleasure, but the hand on Keith's wrist doesn't squeeze tight enough to make him stop despite how easy it would be. His breaths come faster and faster and he's achingly hard in Keith's grip, and he has to dig his fingers into his thigh to stop himself from rocking his hips up to fuck into Keith's fist.

Barely after Keith's started moving his hand, Shiro makes a noise, embarrassing and desperate, a choked off plea, and comes all over Keith's fingers, his body pulsing with pleasure so suddenly and so sharply he can't see, can barely breathe. He sits there winded until his body turns limp and loose, his hand falls away from Keith's wrist, too out of it to keep his grip. He can't see or feel what Keith does for the next few moments, and it's not until the weight of something starts to settle on his oversensitive dick that he begins to come back to himself. And then that weight starts to feel tight. _Too_ tight, painful and dry. Shiro worries that his dick might break if it keeps going and he blinks rapidly, trying to make his vision work again.

"Ow," Keith is muttering, and as the white static fades, Shiro sees Keith trying to lower himself onto his erection. But he's forcing it, his body unwilling and unprepared, and Shiro makes his hands move as quickly as he can despite the pins and needles still pulsing through him.

"Wait, don't— Shit, you're going to hurt yourself."

"Come _on_ , just put it in—" Keith growls, trying to bat away Shiro's hands, but Shiro uses the inhuman strength he's been given to force Keith off of him, shoving him back onto the mattress where he lands on his ass with an indignant grunt. Keith glares at him as Shiro kicks one of his knees up to hide his crotch and tries to catch his breath.

"What was that for?" Keith demands, "You're ready now, why won't you just do it?"

"You're the one who's not ready!"

"I'm the one waiting for you!" 

"No, I mean—" Shiro stops, pinching his nose and taking a deep breath. How is Keith not getting this? "I told you before. This isn't going to work if you're not turned on, too."

"The sooner we start, the sooner I can get pregnant and we can get out of here," Keith says as if Shiro has forgotten the entire point of this plan.

"Listen, Keith, I know you want to get out of here badly but we've literally got nothing _but_ time and I'm still not sure I can even do this and you, very clearly, don't feel up to doing it either. If this... 'heat' thing you keep talking about is what I think it is, can't we just wait for that? Why the rush?"

Keith doesn't answer, and there's shame in his face as he stays stubbornly silent now and Shiro doesn't really understand why. He drops his chin onto his knee and watches Keith. For the first time in ages, he finds himself considering what he's facing not like something in the arena or this prison, to fight and survive, but like a _person_. Keith looks just like a human kid, like one Shiro may have known back on Earth, and it's starting to dawn on Shiro that he _is_ just a human kid. Just like he is. Trapped, desperate, and way, way out of his depth.

"Y'know," Shiro starts, but Keith doesn't look at him and keeps focusing on his hand as he picks at his toes. "Both of us would rather we didn't have to do this, but you say we need to have sex if we're going to get out of here and sex shouldn't hurt, so. Maybe I can help, if you tell me what this 'heat' thing is like. I'll know what you're dealing with so I can try and make this... less weird and painful. For _both_ our sakes." His hand shifts over his crotch protectively as he remembers Keith's aggressive attempt. 

Keith doesn't say anything right away but Shiro waits patiently, finding it a bit weird but comforting that there's less awkwardness in the air between them now that they're naked and sitting together on the mattress. Or maybe it's just the post-orgasm bliss still fogging up his head so he can't notice it. Either way, he's not complaining.

"It's like... an ache," Keith admits eventually. 

Shiro nods when Keith meets his eyes, telling him he's listening. Keith drops his gaze to Shiro's knee and keeps it there, as if it's easier to talk to that than Shiro's face, but Shiro doesn't mind. 

"It starts with a fever. That's where it gets its name, I guess, but it hits fast and then my whole body feels like... like it's hollow. Even though everything's sensitive and I'm leaking everywhere, nothing satisfies the ache. Not water, not food, not my own fingers, nothing." Shiro frowns in sympathy, trying to imagine something like that. He's familiar with what it's like to feel hollow, but for much different reasons. "I can't sleep for more than a few minutes even though I'm exhausted, and everything, whether lying still or moving is agony because it's not what my body wants, it _wants_ to be filled with baby." He finally meets Shiro's eyes now, his expression radiating irritation. "And since getting out of here depends on making that happen, I don't see why we can't start now so I can skip the whole awful thing in the first place."

Keith has folded his arms across his chest by now, as if truly wanting to hide and shrink himself away from Shiro for the first time since getting tossed in this cell with him. Now that he understands a bit more, Shiro really does wish they could get it over with just to spare Keith something he hates so much. But there's not much he can do when neither of them are interested in or ready for sex. If the heat will change that, then they don't have much choice but to wait for it, and all Shiro can offer is his best to knock him up quickly after it starts—which is just _the_ most bizarre thing he's ever thought, even though his life has become bizarre ever since he got abducted.

He says as much, and Keith lies down onto his side, making sure his back is to Shiro.

"Whatever," is all Keith replies. The angry tension is visible in the line of Keith's body and Shiro feels guilty, but what else can he do? Keith was ready to kill Shiro rather than let Shiro touch him just a little while ago. That doesn't go away just because they've mutually agreed to this plan. Shiro isn't sure if he can actually get it up when he'll need to for this plan to work either, now that the shock of being touched after so long has already worn off, but he tells himself not to think about it. The more thinking he does, the more overwhelming it all is, which won't help anything.

In an effort to be considerate of Keith's irritation with him, Shiro leaves the mattress and goes back to the other side of the cell, belatedly realizing he's left his prisoner clothing behind and is still butt naked. He sits down against the wall anyway and tries again to sleep, and maybe it's thanks to getting off once combined with his exhaustion finally catching up to him, but this time he succeeds.

•

A big part of living as a prisoner here is there's no way to keep track of time. Shiro can't tell how long he's slept, if it's hours or even days, but it's always disorienting when he does wake up.

What's more disorienting now is the body on top of him, and his whole body seizes with sudden fear that he's in the ring and lost consciousness, and now he's going to die.

He moves without thought, reacting on instinct. Whatever's on top of him is tossed off and Shiro follows, his human hand splaying out on its chest to hold it down while his Galran hand activates and burns with energy, ready to split through flesh and bone. But he hesitates when the creature beneath him moans at his touch, the flesh underneath his fingers soft and bare and so very, very warm. Shiro blinks, trying to dislodge the sleep from his eyes, and begins to recall what had happened before he'd slept, and _who_ exactly it is he just attacked.

"Sorry," he blurts, his hands pulling away immediately as he moves to get off of Keith, but Keith grabs him by the wrists and tugs at him, wanting to keep him there. 

"Please," Keith says, and Shiro realizes his breathing is heavy and his face flushed. Where his palm had held him down, Keith's skin is pink and his nipples are hard, and what's left of his bewilderment from sleep and surprise is cleared. Keith moans sadly when Shiro pulls away from him despite his tugging, but he doesn't go far, because he knows what this is.

"C'mon," Shiro says as he stands, taking Keith by the hands to pull him up too. Keith groans, as if pained by being moved, and Shiro winces with sympathy. "Just to the mattress, it's better than nothing."

Keith feels like a furnace in his arms as he walks them quickly back to the mattress, but something wet and cool starts to spread against his thigh where he's pressed it between Keith's legs to help him move forward. Trying to settle Keith down onto the mattress is surprisingly difficult, because now that Keith's gotten Shiro's arms wrapped around him, he's intent on not letting him go. Shiro ends up falling gracelessly on top of him which gets a pleased moan rather than a grunt of pain. His fingers digging into Shiro's back and panting against his neck, Keith writhes with their chests pressed together as he untangles his legs from Shiro's so he can more properly spread them and align with Shiro's hips.

" _Please_ ," he pants again, rutting up against Shiro's hardening cock.

"Woah, okay," Shiro says with a startled grunt, trying to keep him still. Keith hadn't been kidding when he said his heat would take care of things, wet slick coating his thighs and spreading wherever his skin meets Shiro's. 

Keith had said this heat wouldn't affect Shiro because he isn't Galra, but Shiro's not so sure that's true now with how fast his body is reacting. His hips rock forward once without thought and both of them gasp from the feel of it, but despite how _very_ ready his body is, Shiro's head is still foggy from sleep and nagging doubt, not sure if this plan will work or if it's even worth it. He closes his eyes and tries to focus, his mind racing to weigh his options, but when Keith moans and it sounds more pained than pleasurable, all he wants to do is help.

"Shh, hey, don't worry, this'll be over in no time," Shiro promises, trying to calm him. He's not sure if he believes it himself, and it doesn't seem to help Keith much either, still clinging and rubbing as much as he can against Shiro. But it's all he can offer, and sucking in a breath, he knows he has to get on with this.

Shiro has to put a hand to Keith's waist to keep him still for long enough that he can line up their bodies, and then after one last moment of hesitation, he pushes easily into Keith's wet, warm hole. Compared to yesterday when Keith nearly broke his dick trying to sit on it, it's almost too easy to slide inside him and pleasure splinters throughout Shiro's body in waves, making his muscles squeeze before relaxing as he sinks in deeper. Beneath him Keith _purrs_ and then goes silent once Shiro's pressed in up to the hilt. Shiro makes sure not to move for a few moments so Keith can adjust, but as he watches, all of Keith's body suddenly goes slack and his arms and legs drop from where they were clinging at Shiro so desperately just a moment before. 

"Keith? Hey, Keith," he hisses with a bit of panic, bringing up a hand to pat Keith gently on the cheek. 

Wide, glazed eyes blink up at him and Keith tilts his head against the mattress to regard Shiro, but says nothing.

"Are you... okay?" Shiro winces as he adds, "Y'know... relatively." Keith gives him a very slow nod, which makes Shiro somewhat relieved. "I guess... I guess I'll start moving now."

The relaxed, languid blankness in Keith's face—which Shiro is now piecing together is probably pleasure, the ache brought on by his heat finally being satisfied—turns into sharp, hungry need in an instant.

"Move," Keith demands, his hands grabbing for Shiro's shoulders, and Shiro obeys.

It doesn't feel intimate, but it is sex, and Keith does feel _incredibly_ good. Shiro has no idea if it's because of the alien heat thing or how long it's been since he last got laid or what, but it's better than anything he's felt before. Keith doesn't make much noise as Shiro fucks him, breathy little gasps pushing out of him with every thrust, until he comes for the first time. Shiro hasn't been doing much else but moving his hips, his hands fisted against the mattress on either side of Keith, so he's surprised when Keith suddenly starts to moan with growing volume until he's shuddering so hard with his back arching away from the mattress that Shiro has to stop moving completely. His hole squeezes and pulses around Shiro's cock as he rides the orgasm and Shiro groans as he has to drop his head down to the mattress by Keith's ear, overwhelmed as Keith's body tries to wring him dry. But he doesn't come, despite the intense pleasure of it and how easily he came last time. 

When Keith comes down from his orgasm, and once Shiro can open his eyes again, he lifts his head and sees Keith staring at him with clearer eyes than before, as if the fog of heat has pulled back now that he's given his body what it needs.

"I'm not pregnant yet," Keith says.

Shiro blinks, then drops his eyes to Keith's shoulder. "Yeah, uh. I know."

"Then keep going." Keith squeezes around Shiro's cock where he's still hard and makes him grunt, his hips jerking forward as if compelled. "More," Keith says, and his frenzied need from earlier is already returning to his voice. Rolling Keith onto his belly, Shiro gives him what he asked for and starts to fuck him steadily again. Shiro's head is clear, but the way his body reacts so intensely and immediately to Keith's has him convinced the heat is affecting him too somehow, even though Keith said it couldn't.

It wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen to him, after all.

The cell warms from the heat of their bodies the longer they continue and they're both quickly drenched with sweat, and Shiro has no clue how much time passes as he fucks Keith nearly without stopping, making his sensitive body come over and over. Shiro's balls feel tight, painfully so, and he aches for release but he can't orgasm and he doesn't know why. Beneath him, Keith is pliable and obedient as long as Shiro is moving inside him, so he lets Shiro change positions as much as he wants, but none of them seem to help. Considering the whole _point_ of this is to come inside Keith, he's starting to worry about this problem.

"Keith," Shiro says as his hips stop moving for the first time in ages. He knows he should be tired if they've been at this as long as he thinks, but it's a struggle to keep still when Keith is so warm and wet and begging him to move. "Keith, something's—" he tries to explain, faltering when Keith rolls his hips back against him. Other than the occasional demand of, " _More_ ," Keith hasn't said much of anything since his first orgasm, so Shiro's not sure Keith can explain what's going on even if he manages to ask.

But the ache in his belly and his balls for release is starting to overwhelm him with how badly he needs it. Keith is on his hands and knees beneath him still trying to make him move so Shiro grabs him by the elbows and pulls him up until they're back to chest. Shiro spreads out his knees and pulls Keith into his lap, and it makes Keith whine when Shiro uses one of his hands to hold his waist still as the other slides up his chest, his artificial fingers splaying out across hot skin to hold him tight. Keith's hands grab at Shiro's thighs, trying to make him go faster, but Shiro keeps his slow rhythm of small thrusts.

For the last however many hours Shiro's been avoiding using his mouth on any part of Keith. For whatever reason, it feels too intimate for this thing they're doing, and even in Keith's frenzied state in heat, he hasn't tried to bite or kiss so Shiro assumed the Galra don't kiss like humans do.

But Shiro's too far gone now, desperate need pushing him forward, and he brings his mouth to Keith's shoulder, sucking at his sweat-damp skin.

Instantly, Keith's body shudders and his muscles tighten around Shiro's cock as he moans. When Shiro does it again, Keith's head drops to the side and he goes still against Shiro's chest, no longer impatiently rolling his hips to fuck himself on Shiro's dick.

"Champion, _please_ ," he begs, and even though Shiro hates to be called that and doesn't have any idea what he's asking for, again his body moves as if commanded, as if it always knew he'd be asked to do this.

His teeth bite down on the skin of Keith's neck and the both of them shiver together, Shiro's hips picking up the pace as the coil of pressure in his gut _finally_ starts to spring loose. Keith whines with every thrust as Shiro fucks up inside him until Shiro has to roll them forward and press Keith's belly into the damp mattress, his mouth still on Keith's neck. The hands that had been on Shiro's thighs drop away to find Shiro's hair and hold him in place, though he has no intention of letting go anytime soon. The loud slap of skin against skin is drowned out by the thundering pulse in his ears, so loud he can't even hear the noises Keith makes anymore. All of his senses bleed together until he's drowning in how Keith tastes and smells and _feels_ , the heat squeezing around his cock and pressing against his chest and filling his lungs as he gasps for air.

At long last, with a hard shudder and a choked sob buried against Keith's skin, Shiro starts to come, his jaw clenching hard where he's still biting down. And then he keeps coming, and coming, and _coming_ , and it's not pleasure flooding through him as he does but the need to fill Keith up until he's swollen and pregnant. All of his muscles begin to ache from how long they strain, pulled taut and unable to relax until every drop of him is emptied inside of Keith. 

Shiro doesn't know what happens once he's finished, his vision darkening and his body going limp. For the first time in a very long time, he sleeps with no nightmares reliving what he's done or dreams of Earth that make his chest ache when he wakes up back in this hellhole.

For the first time in a very long time, Shiro gets some rest.

•

The second time Shiro wakes up, it's slow and gradual. Everything is hazy as he blinks the sleep out of his eyes, and if it weren't for the familiar dark walls of his cell, he'd wonder if he was still dreaming. When he tries to stretch out his arms, he's surprised when he can't move at first, his body feeling heavy as if he's been asleep for weeks.

Hell, maybe he has been.

It takes a few attempts but he finally gets his limbs to work and when he stretches himself out slowly, his elbow bumps into something soft and warm. He rolls his head to the side and sees dark hair in disarray. Poking out of the bedhead is a large purple ear, and the sight of it makes everything clicks into place. Who he met yesterday, what they did, and what they're still planning to do.

"Keith," Shiro tries to call out, but his voice is weak and cracks from disuse. He swallows a few times, trying to wet his tongue before speaking again. "Keith?"

The purple ear flicks once, but Keith doesn't move or make any attempt to look at him.

"It worked."

Oh.

"Oh."

Shiro doesn't really know what else to say. He can tell neither of them consider this a good thing, just a necessary thing. A "congrats, we did it," or "glad I could help," would sound too aloof and insulting, so he just keeps quiet.

He wants to ask how long he was out, but he knows Keith can't keep track of time any better than he can in this place. Sitting up takes a while, but eventually he manages. He blinks over at the cell door and sees a tray of food that must've been delivered while he was out and his stomach gurgles loudly. He coughs bashfully and gets up off the mattress, grabbing his discarded clothing to dress himself before satisfying his awakened hunger.

The Galran prison food isn't great but it hasn't poisoned him yet so he digs into the red slop, trying to keep quiet as he eats. Though the tray was untouched before he got to it, there are clearly two portions here. He doesn't want to bother Keith after what they both just went through, but he can't stop from worrying. They are about to attempt a jailbreak after all.

"You should eat something, too."

When Keith stays quiet, Shiro turns to look over at the mattress where he's still curled up on his side. 

"Soon. Before the guards come."

"I won't eat that."

Shiro glances down at it, suddenly suspicious. It hasn't gotten _him_ sick—yet—but maybe it's specially made for species other than Galra? 

"Why?"

Keith finally sits up to glare at Shiro with bright, yellow eyes that make him flinch. "Because it's drugged to keep me in heat, that's why."

"Drugged?" Shiro repeats, his gut filling with dread.

"It can't do anything to you since you aren't Galra but to me it'll keep me in heat basically forever until I'm pregnant. I feel like it's over already but it could be a fluke, so I don't want to risk it." Shiro swallows down against the anger rising in his throat, the bland taste of the food on his tongue making him even more frustrated. Keith's glare eases, and he sounds painfully casual as he adds, "That's why I told you the only way I could've gotten out of here _not_ pregnant is if you're dead or impotent. Because they make sure of it."

A sudden, furious, _powerful_ wish to kill any Galra soldier who hurts or touches Keith again jolts through him then, but in the moments after it passes it unsettles him so badly he starts to shake and has to close his eyes and take deep breaths. The Galra food in his belly churns unpleasantly and he worries he might wretch. After everything he's done in the arena to stay alive, the regrets and guilt making him doubt if he deserves a chance to live outside of it, the idea that he could _want_ to kill anyone, even his captors, terrifies him.

"You keep saying this stuff can't affect me, but I think it already did," he says, remembering how he felt while they were having sex. The way his body had felt compelled to respond to Keith in ways he's never experienced before, in ways he doesn't think he _could_ ever experience with another human.

"What? How?"

Shiro shakes his head, still squeezing his eyes shut. "I don't know how, but... I keep feeling like I want— _have_ to do things, things that definitely aren't coming from me. The need is so strong but I-I don't know how to explain where they're coming from, it's almost—" 

"Like it's instinct," Keith finishes for him.

"Yeah, but they're instincts I shouldn't have," Shiro says, lifting his face to look at Keith again.

Keith frowns in thought, but before he can say anything his ears flicker and his eyes go wide. Shiro hears the footsteps after a moment too and in an instant he's on his feet, grabbing the discarded tunic he'd taken off earlier before rushing over to the mattress and helping Keith up.

"Don't let them—" Keith hisses, his hands grabbing at Shiro's chest as Shiro pulls the tunic over Keith's head, a powerful urge to not let anyone else see Keith making him do it.

"I won't," Shiro swears, standing between Keith and the cell door. He squeezes Keith's shoulders and gives him a nod. "Are you ready to get out of here?"

Keith takes a few deep breaths and nods back, looking determined.

The both of them jump when the footsteps stop and a deep voice drawls, "Well, well, well, color me impressed."

Shiro slowly turns around to face the door but keeps himself planted as a wall between Keith and the three guards leering at them now. His mind begins to race, taking in the size of each of them and calculating which of them are most likely to come for him first and hold him at bay and which will go for Keith. Shiro's always been an obedient prisoner since he knew he had no means to overpower them, so he and Keith will have a few seconds of surprise to take advantage of when he does fight back this time.

"I think you two have set a new record," one with reptilian scales chuckles.

"Fastest someone's ever ended their omega's heat. Barely took you a day," the tallest one sneers.

As the door's energy dissipates to let the guards move towards them, Shiro reaches his artificial hand hidden behind him to give Keith's one last reassuring squeeze.

"Thanks for that. We've been looking forward to this one," says the one in the center.

Shiro stays patient and calm as they approach, his eyes tracking the guards' movements as they pull out their weapons, pointing them square at his chest.

"Okay, Champion. You've had your turn," the center one says. He's not holding a gun and Shiro takes a slow, relaxed breath. The hand still hidden behind his back lets go of Keith's and he notices the wary backstep all three guards take as he brings it to his side.

He holds both of his hands up, pretending to be obedient, and lets the two with guns usher him forward. They hold out restraints and reach for his arm, and seeing his chance while all their attention is on his dormant Galran hand, Shiro lunges at the nearest guard without activating it, grabbing his elbow and twisting it behind his back hard enough to make bone snap and the Galra scream. The other guards freeze in shock for just long enough that by the time they do begin to react, Shiro's hand is already burning with energy and the first guard's gun is destroyed.

The shots fired at him by the reptilian guard are easily blocked as he charges again, and with practiced ease after all his fights in the arena, Shiro tosses the guard he has a hold of into the one shooting in his direction before spinning around on the unarmed guard and bringing his hand down across his chest. It's not enough to kill him but it gives Keith the chance to tackle him, letting Shiro focus on the other two again. He chases after where they've fallen and crushes the dropped gun with a slam of his fist before it can be grabbed by either of them. The guard whose arm isn't broken tries to shove at the body on top of him to get away, but Shiro reaches them too quickly and slams their heads together, and a few times against the cell floor, until neither of them are moving anymore.

"Keith, you okay?" Shiro shouts as he turns.

"Yeah, now help me with this," Keith says where he's kneeling over the knocked out guard and pulling off his helmet and armor. Shiro tugs off the boots and pants and watches as Keith discards the tunic Shiro had given him, then puts on the uniform that's clearly too big for him piece by piece. Before Shiro can ask who he hopes to fool looking like that, Keith shifts his body to better fill it out and he's even taller than Shiro when they stand, pulling on the helmet before running out of the cell with Shiro close behind.

"Those should be the only guards for a while, most of the ship is patrolled by sentries," Keith explains as they bolt out of the cell block. He leads them through countless hallways that all seem identical to Shiro, stopping to hide and holding up his fingers to count out the timing whenever sentries walk by, before moving again. 

"Got the pattern down?" Keith asks suddenly, coming to a stop. Shiro slows down beside him and nods. "The ships are straight that way. Just don't let them see you and you'll be fine. Pick one and I'll meet you there."

"You'll meet me— Wait, _what_?" Shiro asks, catching Keith by the arm before he can sprint off in a different direction. "Why do you want to split up? Where are you going?"

"I'll be quick, there are just some things I need to get—like the map you'll be using, for one."

"You don't _have it_?" Shiro gawks.

"No! They brought me to your cell completely naked, where did you think I was hiding it?"

Shiro just stares at him, incredulous, but the sound of sentries coming prompts Keith to tug Shiro behind the corner of a corridor before they're spotted. Once they pass, Keith peels Shiro's hand from his arm and whispers, "Just go that way and get to a ship. I'll meet you there," as he turns and runs off.

For a moment, all Shiro can do is stand there in disbelief, but it's not long before the sound of more sentries finally snap his survival instincts into action and he moves in the direction Keith pointed him, because he doesn't have much choice. It's either wait around to get caught and killed now, get dragged back to the arena and killed later, or get to the ships and _pray_ he hasn't just been duped by the most bizarre alien scam in the universe.

An unpleasant knot of discomfort settles itself in his gut the further down the path he goes but he moves forward as best he can. The rhythm Keith showed him keeps him from being spotted by passing sentries and Shiro wonders if Keith learned it from other escape attempts that failed.

_What if this one fails too? What if he gets caught? What if I can't protect him?_

The last thought makes his gut twist painfully and he nearly turns on his heel to run after Keith. But then rationality returns and he shakes his head, trying to clear it. Whatever Keith's heat has done to him isn't going away fast enough. He just hopes the alien weirdness isn't permanent as he starts moving again.

Just like Keith said, Shiro soon reaches a dock of small transport ships. He recognizes them from when he and the Holts had been shuffled into one and brought to this prison. There's no prisoner delivery happening now, the area empty except for the routine patrols of the sentries, so Shiro makes a run for the nearest one as soon as he can. The door opens to the touch of his Galra hand and he leaves it open for Keith before heading for the cockpit, ready to get it started and pilot them out of here.

He hits a minor stumbling block when he realizes all of the labels and screens are in a language he can't read, but when he rests his artificial hand on one of the panels, things begin to light up and turn on for him anyway. 

"Handy," he says to himself, chuckling at his pun.

The sound of someone stepping inside makes Shiro turn, just in time to see a sentry aiming to shoot at him. But before it can, a blade slices diagonally through its chest, splitting it into two broken chunks at Keith's feet.

"You okay?" Keith asks, stepping over the pieces and closing the doors behind him. Shiro nods mutely, staring at the blade as it shrinks into a dagger and Keith straps it to his side. He's wearing clothes Shiro doesn't recognize, different from prisoner garb and the Galra guard uniform, and he's shifted back to looking human. Grey eyes flash up at him impatiently. "Then let's get going. I've got the map so it's time to find Earth."

That snaps Shiro out of his staring and he turns back to the control panels. "Okay. One problem, though. I can pilot but I can't read any of this."

Keith joins him by the controls, peering down at all the buttons and screens. The knot that had settled in Shiro's belly begins to come undone now that Keith is so close to him. He recognizes the feeling now as anxiety, but a kind he's never felt before. Before he knows he's doing it, Shiro wraps his arms around Keith and hugs him tight against his chest, comfort and relief flooding through him and calming him instantly. His fears of a failed escape practically vanish, as if just having Keith close means nothing can go wrong.

And for a few moments, Keith melts into his touch, his cheek rubbing against Shiro's chest, before they both seem to realize what they're doing and he pushes Shiro away at the same time Shiro drops his arms away completely.

"What are you doing?"

"I-I don't know."

The ship rocks suddenly as the sound of gunfire pelts the doors. Apparently the sentries have noticed one of their pals getting cut up into scrap metal. Shiro and Keith look at each other for a moment longer before Keith slides into the pilot seat.

"Tell me what I need to do to make this thing go."

"Look for engines. Make sure they're on, and turn off any automatic piloting and signal comms so they can't stop us from their own controls."

Keith looks carefully at the control panel and hits buttons as Shiro instructs, and it doesn't take more than a few moments before he's got the ship brimming with energy and he punches forward, rocketing them out into space. He pulls from underneath his collar what looks like a small chip and inserts it into a small port on the controls. It blooms into a bright display of what Shiro recognizes as stars—though he definitely doesn't recognize any of the stars he sees.

"Where do we go?" Keith asks, glancing at it.

"I-I don't know, anywhere far away. Can this ship warp out of here?" Shiro asks. Before Keith can answer, an alarm blares as the map vanishes and various windows pop up on the display instead that Shiro can guess are warnings and radars of incoming fire. They're hit lightly by a few blasters before Keith spins them out of the way, Shiro gripping tight onto the back of the pilot chair to keep from being sent sprawling. "How many fighters?" Shiro shouts above the alerts and Keith doubles back, trying to get behind the ships on their tail and out of their targeting range.

"A lot," Keith answers, and Shiro can see the tiny fleet out of the window panel, and an even clearer line of at least a hundred shapes indicated ships on the radar.

"If they want to shoot us down, we're not going to have much of a chance. We have to get out of here _now_."

"I'm trying!" Keith shouts, pulling hard at the controls and weaving them around some of the fighters, making the Galra shoot each other and crash. He's doing incredible, but Shiro knows the only reason they haven't been annihilated yet despite how easy it would be is because the Galra are debating the value lost if they destroy them, or if it's more worth it to recapture them. The thought of tasting freedom only to have it snatched right back makes a weight drop in his belly.

"Tell me where the command is, I'll do it!" Shiro says, desperate to get them out of here.

"That panel," Keith says, nodding to his right. Shiro goes to it and sees a bunch of buttons for what he thinks might be numbers.

"What do I do?"

"Insert coordinates, you need to tell it where to warp."

"I don't know what coordinates this—" Shiro's interrupted by a hard shudder of the ship as something hits them, sending them spinning but thankfully not blowing them up. "You okay?" he asks, panic seizing him at the thought of Keith being hurt.

"I'm fine! Just put in whatever, you said we need to get out of here, right? We can figure out where to go after once we're just not _here_!"

"Right, okay, I'll just— on your left!" he shouts when he sees an incoming fighter and Keith reacts instantly, dropping them down out of the path of the blasts before curving back up and hooking around to shoot at it. "I think, uh, I think I've put in something that'll work. Will they be able to follow us?"

"Yeah, but they won't know where we've gone which will give us some time, we're not jumping with a cruiser where everyone's traveling with the same coordinates."

Keith shoots down another passing fighter as Shiro slams what he hopes is the start button for the warp, and the sudden buzzing of the ship tells him it is. But what he didn't know was preparing for a warp would momentarily keep them in place, and another blast hits them, trying to shoot out their engine. Fortunately it misses it's mark because the next moment they're shooting through space, stars blurring past them, the Galra left billions of miles behind them.

•

Wherever they are once they come out of the warp, it isn't Earth. But it's also not a Galra prison and for that, Shiro feels only relief. But the landing was still a little rough, and even if he didn't have that new weird tug in his chest pulling him towards Keith, he'd still want to check in on him. The adrenaline crash he's due to get hit by won't be fun.

"You okay?" Shiro asks, coming up to the pilot chair.

Keith nods where he sits frozen, hands clenched hard around the controls. After a few more seconds of silence, he leans over and vomits onto the floor. Shiro chuckles and rubs at Keith's back gently as he gets it all out.

"That's what most people say after their first try in the simulator. You jumped straight to the real deal, and you did pretty amazing, actually."

"I crashed," Keith says between coughs, spitting onto the floor.

"You got shot down. There's a difference," Shiro says. He looks out of the dimmed ship windshield and knows he should probably check their surroundings before they call it safe to sit here, but he doesn't want to rush Keith when he needs time to rest. "We just survived something pretty intense, so catch your breath and take your time, okay? I'm going to go take a look at where we are."

Keith closes his eyes and nods before he starts to retch some more, and Shiro gives him one last squeeze on the shoulder.

The doors of the ship need a few kicks to open properly, then Shiro steps out cautiously. They've landed in a dense, lush forest of some kind, giant alien flora hiding the sky. If any Galra scouts come looking for them, at least it won't be easy to be spotted. The air is filled with the chatter of animals—or what Shiro assumes are animals, anyway—but more importantly, the sound of rushing water.

Shiro hasn't had a proper shower or bath in... shit, he has no idea how long. The closest he's gotten is getting sprayed down with a handful of other prisoners before he's tossed back into the arena. Before he even realizes it, he's running, charging through the branches of alarmingly pink foliage, the sound of water getting louder and louder until he nearly runs off a bank right into it. He manages to catch himself and stares out over the lagoon, a large waterfall cascading into its center.

He strips off his prisoner uniform as fast as he can so he can jump into the water and lands with a loud splash into the lake that's surprisingly warm, but still refreshing. He nearly moans from how good it feels, running a hand through his hair. He knows he'll have to sit and really scrub to get clean, but for now it's enough just to be rinsed off and fresher than he has been in ages.

There's a nagging itch that spreads from the worried knot in his belly until it makes his whole body full of tension the whole time he bathes, but it's not from worrying about what alien fish might be in there with him or what kind of trouble he'll be in if he's found by Galra soldiers while he's bare naked and vulnerable. Instead it's the worry that Keith isn't here. Which is starting to get annoying, because he agreed to help Keith to get them both out of that prison, but he didn't sign up for whatever weird alien side effect he's been hit with. He doesn't think of Keith as a means to an end even though he's fully aware _he_ is considered as such, but sympathizing with and wanting to help an alien isn't the same as wanting to be rewired into caring only about them.

Despite his annoyance, he hurries to finish up and get back to the ship anyway. Hopefully it's temporary, whatever this is. When they get to Earth, he's pretty sure the plan is to go their separate ways and that'll be unpleasant if this "Where is Keith?" anxiety is permanent.

Before he's made it back out of the lake, he freezes at the sound of rustling foliage as something approaches. His artificial hand activates without thinking, his arena-trained instincts already taking over to defend himself. But the face that pops out of the bushes is Keith, breathing heavily at the top of the bank, and when he notices Shiro he leaps right for him and Shiro holds his arms open to catch him as he hits the water.

The full-body itch vanishes instantly and he's filled instead with relief and elation even as they both snap out of it and separate, Keith swimming away, still fully dressed in whatever uniform he's got on.

"You feeling better?" Shiro asks after a few moments.

Keith's face is half submerged when he turns to look back at Shiro from where he's now treading water. He gives a small nod in answer and looks away again. Shiro can understand a dismissal when he sees one and starts to leave the water again before remembering he's still very naked and hesitates. He makes sure Keith is still looking anywhere but at him before he hurries up to the shore and starts pulling back on his clothes even though he's still dripping wet. 

No longer naked, Shiro begins to wander away, not sure if he should go back to the ship or continue wandering the perimeter, but he's halted when he hears Keith shout, "Wait!"

Shiro stops and turns, waiting just like Keith's asked.

"Where... where are you going?"

Shiro shrugs. "Hadn't decided." Keith says nothing as he watches him, his mouth below the water, until Shiro sighs. "We should talk about this."

Keith lifts his head up to ask, "Talk about what?" before dipping back down.

" _This_. The weird," Shiro pauses, gesturing between them as if it could somehow explain whatever the hell is going on. "Anxiety thing whenever we aren't together," he finishes awkwardly, "You didn't warn me about this when I agreed to do what you asked. What did you do to me?"

Even with half of his face underwater, Shiro can tell Keith's grimacing. After a while of saying nothing he lets his legs lift to the surface as he stretches out, floating on his back and staring up at the dense alien canopy.

"I don't know. I've never heard of this happening."

Shiro's shoulders tense up and his fists clench at his sides. "You don't know?"

"I don't know!" Keith repeats.

"What if this is permanent? What if it gets worse? What are we supposed to do if we get to Earth and can't handle being separated at all?" Shiro pushes, because he doesn't want to be the only one thinking about the long term here. 

"I _can_ handle it, just like I've handled everything else!" Keith shouts, diving under the water and swimming to the other shore.

"Keith, that's not a plan," Shiro calls out to him when he surfaces and starts wandering up onto the bank.

"The only plan is to get to Earth, so why don't you start looking at the map like you promised and stop worrying about me?" Keith yells from across the lake before disappearing into the jungle and Shiro lets him go, ignoring the growing unease in his gut.

He leaves the lake and heads back to the ship in hopes that doing what Keith asks will help both their moods when he returns. On his walk back, he remembers Keith has a lot more to worry about than he does since he's the one who's pregnant, and a heavy wave of guilt settles over him. He's not sure if it's also a part of this new side effect affecting them both but decides it doesn't matter. He has to apologize when Keith comes back, and then maybe they can focus on coming up with an actual plan.

A few of the planet's animal inhabitants have gathered atop the ship, pecking at the metal curiously, but scatter when Shiro gets close. He's glad they aren't aggressive—for now, at least—and heads inside. 

During the escape, there was no time to examine the map and they had to focus on just getting _away_. Shiro pokes at the buttons where Keith plugged in the device and is relieved when it only takes a few presses for the lights to come up and a large holographic map expands in front of him. He sits in the middle of the floor and stares up at the star chart, his heart beginning to pound the longer he looks.

He'd been afraid of this. He doesn't recognize... anything. He has no idea where they are, and no reference for how to find anything he _does_ recognize.

"Shit," he hisses under his breath.

He tries to zoom out, wondering if he can recognize galaxies, but no matter how much he adjusts the map and shifts through the stars, there's no way to find Earth quickly. Even if he could read the labels of systems, the odds that the Galra or whoever created this map for Keith use the same names as they do back on Earth are laughably tiny, so this will take time. How _much_ time, he doesn't know. Hopefully Keith's assumption that they'll be able to find their way long before the baby is due is true.

 _God, what if he has to have the baby here?_ Shiro thinks, beginning to panic. _I don't know how to deliver a baby, alien or not. What if the Galra find us after it gets here? Will they take it from us? Or what if they—_ He can't even finish the thought, his whole body lurching forward as he squeezes his eyes shut and presses his forehead to cool metal, trying to breathe and settle the painful nausea suddenly rocking through him.

"Fuck," he groans when he can speak without retching. It's probably just part of the bonding side effect, but feeling so intensely so often since this whole thing with Keith after months of feeling barely anything is overwhelming.

He doesn't realize how badly he's shaking until he tries to stretch out and lie down, the exhaustion and panic making it hard to move. He manages eventually and lies on his belly with his eyes still shut, trying to calm his breathing and telling himself not to think about anything right now. Keith will be back eventually and he can start the search for Earth then. Right now, he just needs to pass out, and luckily his body doesn't try to fight it.

Shiro doesn't remember how long it takes to fall asleep and he has no idea how long he naps, and when he wakes up to a tiny, worried voice calling his name, he doesn't remember who it belongs to.

"Shiro? Shiro." A finger gingerly pokes at his chest, then a palm settles over his heart and shakes him. " _Shiro_!"

Blinking his eyes open, the sight greeting him is a pair of human eyes that look almost purple, staring at him intensely. He blinks some more and watches as relief floods those eyes, and his first instinct is to reach his hand up to touch the face peering down at him. The boy above him jerks a bit in surprise when Shiro's fingers slide against his cheek, but he doesn't pull away. Shiro's next instinct is to kiss him, but his body is slow with sleep and he's content just touching the boy's cheek, letting the warm soft skin against his palm help him wake up.

"You know my name," Shiro whispers, grogginess making it hard to talk. 

"... You told it to me."

"I did?"

The look of bewilderment on the small face above his makes Shiro's stomach drop, a weird mix of guilt and fear stirring at the thought of upsetting him. That growing feeling snaps his memory into the place—the cell, Keith, their night together, and the escape—and as it comes rushing back, he jerks upright abruptly and nearly bonks their heads together. Shiro whips his hand back to his chest, embarrassed that he'd touched Keith in the first place.

"Sorry, I was just... caught up in a dream, got confused," he mutters, trying to shake the unsettling feeling crawling up his neck. He rolls his shoulders and clears his throat before looking at Keith again. "Uh. What's up?"

Keith eyes him suspiciously for a couple more seconds before he sits back, pulls his knees up to his chest and stares at them.

"I wasn't sure if you were dead or not."

"Oh. Well, I was feeling dead tired, but more tired than dead," he tries to joke. Keith doesn't look up from his knees and Shiro's smile drops away, feeling foolish. "Sorry," Shiro apologizes again, his eyes focusing down on his hands. His head is buzzing, the weird fog that had swallowed his memories starting to slip back over them like a blanket, hiding them from view. He must make a displeased face because Keith reaches out to touch his leg, shaking him out of the zoned-out state he'd fallen into. Keith's hand doesn't leave Shiro's shin and he frowns at it, trying to figure something out. When he stays silent, Shiro asks, "Do I still look dead?"

"... No," Keith says slowly, shaking his head and finally pulling his hand away. Shiro's skin aches for the touch as soon as it's gone, and he credits that to their weird dependency thing that's causing so many other problems. "You were right," Keith says after a moment. "Back at the lake, I shouldn't have... The further I got from you the worse everything was. It'll be a problem." His face sours, and he bites out the words, "If we ever get to Earth."

"Hey, we'll figure something out, and we _will_ get there," Shiro says. He doesn't believe it, and he has no idea how to deal with any of this, but the _need_ to comfort Keith is so strong he can't do anything else but promise it. 

Keith hums, not sounding very relieved or confident after Shiro's reassurance either. He stares at Shiro's legs a little longer, then closes his eyes and sighs.

"Can I... lie down with you?"

"Uh," Shiro balks, thrown off by the request. Keith's whole body tenses as if rejected already, and Shiro instinctively reaches out to him, not wanting him to pull away. He doesn't touch him, though. His fingers curl back against his palm to stop himself and he drops his hand back down to his knee. "Sure, of course you can. Just didn't think you'd want to do something like that. Is it the weird connection thing?"

"I guess," Keith grumbles, already moving forward across the ship's floor until he's tucked against Shiro's side, his face pinched as he tries to bury it in Shiro's thigh.

Shiro watches him and the way he breathes unevenly and shivers. He'd guess it was morning sickness, but considering Keith just got pregnant yesterday, he's not sure if it would manifest this soon. But then again, all of the medical knowledge Shiro possesses about half-alien pregnancy can be counted on less than one finger so what does he know. He starts to wonder if the symptoms can be treated the same way they are back on Earth, but that just makes him worried about how little they have access to while they're stranded here on some alien planet. They can maybe figure out something to do about food, but medicine, blankets, and especially _fresh clothes_ aren't going to be found any time soon. He'd love to get rid of this prisoner outfit and find something clean, but it's not like they could hit up a space mall and he doesn't want to go around naked.

Keith whines quietly and snaps Shiro out of his thoughts of shops and food courts at a space mall, pulling his attention back to where Keith is curling his knees in against his stomach and still pressing his face to Shiro's leg. A cold dread spikes in Shiro's gut at the panicked thought that Keith could've caught some alien sickness out in the jungle. But his earlier train of thought comes back before the panic overwhelms him, the idea of a food court reminding him of the last time _he_ ate, and that he can't recall ever seeing Keith eat anything in the last couple days.

"Shit, you're probably starving, aren't you?"

Keith shrugs one shoulder and keeps his eyes pinched shut. He's probably feeling more than hunger, but at least Shiro can do something about that part.

"You need to eat, I'll go look for something." Before he can even start to worry about how he's going to tell what's edible and what's not on this planet, Keith eyes open wide and he lifts up on his elbow to grab at Shiro's side as he starts to breathe hard, looking panicked.

"Don't—" he starts to say, but has to stop as he sways and squeezes his eyes shut again. He looks ready to either vomit or keel over, and Shiro can't stop himself from reaching out and touching him this time, steadying him.

"You're okay," he whispers as he rubs at Keith's back. After a while when Keith's breathing is finally less uneven and harsh, Shiro turns his back to him and holds out his arms. "Do you think you can hang on?"

"To... to what?"

"To me. I'm going to carry you. Being separated is just going to make you feel worse, but you really do need to eat something, so if you can hang onto my shoulders, I'll take you with me." 

Shiro glances back over at Keith, who's still looking a bit wobbly, but he only hesitates for a moment before climbing onto Shiro's offered back and gripping him tight. Careful not to jostle him too hard, Shiro gets his arms underneath Keith's legs and slowly stands.

"Feeling okay?"

"Mm," Keith mumbles into his back.

Shiro adjusts his hold once more to keep himself balanced, then heads back out into the overgrown jungle they're stuck in. The alien animal chatter from before is still loud, a cacophony of squawks and chirps, but the light is coming from a different angle through the canopy. It's such a striking sight that he has to stop walking moments later, captivated by it and what it means. He hadn't paid it much thought to it before—too busy cruising on a mix of adrenaline and exhaustion—but now he struggles to swallow down the urge to cry with relief. After all that time stuck in a dark cell, unable to tell how many days had passed while he wondered if he'd be trapped there the rest of his life, he's _out_ now. He may not be back on Earth yet, but the star this planet circles reminds him enough of home that it nearly overwhelms him.

"Shiro?" Keith's weak voice comes from behind him, startling him. He manages not to rustle Keith in his arms, but he has to take a few moments to breathe and blink away tears that are making his vision blurry.

"Sorry," he says as he clears his throat, starting to step forward again. "Let's get you some food."

He heads back towards the lake he'd washed in earlier, the watering hole is his only lead at the moment for finding some kind of animal that he can cook.

Keith whimpers every so often against his shoulder as he walks, curling tighter onto Shiro's back before sagging again. Shiro's known a handful of people who went through pregnancies, and he's heard both horror stories about morning sickness and stories of never feeling it at all. Keith seems to be on the unlucky side, sounding miserable, and Shiro hopes getting some food in him will help even the tiniest bit. There is just one other thing worrying him...

"This probably isn't the best time to ask, but uh," Shiro says, watching his feet as he walks. Keith makes a curious noise, waiting for his question. "You... you don't happen to know how to cook, do you?"

"No... They never let omegas prepare our own food, same as they don't let prisoners do it."

Shiro sighs, not sure why he expected anything different. "Okay. Then we'll just have to learn as we go."

Keith doesn't ask what that means, probably feeling too sick to talk much, which spares Shiro from explaining the embarrassing truth that he has no idea how to cook... at all. The few times he'd try and help his mom in the kitchen, he'd get shooed out for messing up the ingredients or nearly hurting himself, usually letting things cook for too long and making half the house smell like smoke. At school they provided him with meals and he'd already grown adverse to ever trying anything in the kitchen so he'd just never learned. If the Galra hadn't fed him, he'd probably be long dead from starvation.

Not really the greatest train of thought. 

Shiro shakes his head of it as they reach the water again, refocusing on what they need: some kind of wildlife that hopefully isn't poisonous, hard to kill, or easy to overcook. He wades into the bushes and carefully pushes the biggest, heaviest leaves out of the way to make sure they don't smack Keith around as he walks past them. Suitably hidden from the shoreline, Shiro lets Keith down onto the ground. Immediately, Keith curls onto his side, pulling his legs up to his chest and squeezing his arms around them. Without thinking, Shiro's hand finds Keith's face and brushes the bangs out of his eyes.

"Don't worry about making noise. If you have to puke, go for it, it'll help you feel better."

Keith glances up at him as he nods, then squeezes his eyes shut again and lies mostly still, only making the occasional pained whimper.

Shiro keeps his focus on the water as best he can, but he can't help the way his attention turns immediately back to Keith whenever he whines lowly or sighs out a long breath. They sit there hidden in the brush for long enough that Shiro notices the light above the canopy change again, looking akin to a sunset on Earth, but no signs of life, wild or otherwise, come by. The loud chorus of creatures is apparently not being made nearby or at least not on the ground where he can get to them. He tries to wait a bit longer, knowing that as the sky grows darker they should get back to the ship soon before they can't find their way back, until he decides their next best food option is fish—or whatever passes for fish here. 

As he stands, a hand shoots forward to grab at his arm and he looks down at Keith, who he'd thought was asleep.

"Don't leave me," he pleads. His voice is weak and cracking, signs that he really had been sleeping up until a moment ago, and his whole body is shaking, likely from a mix of panic and hunger.

Shiro doesn't think for a moment before he kneels back down and scoops Keith up into his arms. "I'm not. Shh, I've got you," he whispers as he walks them out of the bushes and back to the lake. He looks for where the water looks the shallowest, where he can stand in it and still see the bottom for possible creatures. When he finally finds a decent place to try, the light overhead quickly growing dimmer, he tries to put Keith down on the bank as he says, "I just need to put you down for a second, okay? I need to try and find _something_ for you to eat before we lose the last of the light."

But Keith's fingers squeeze tight into the material of his prisoner uniform and won't let go. "You'll leave," Keith says, sounding so fearful that Shiro is nearly bowled over with it.

He knows, rationally, that the outrage suddenly boiling beneath his skin that he could ever let Keith feel frightened or abandoned is coming from their weird alien sex bond, which in his head makes it seem so ridiculous. But the anger making his stomach churn and his jaw clench tight is _real_ and it's only the even stronger need to make sure Keith gets fed that lets him push down on it and focus.

"I'm never leaving you," Shiro swears, his fingers squeezing around Keith's shoulder and into his thigh where he's holding him, "but I can't catch anything if I'm holding you. I won't go far." Keith still won't let go, and Shiro has to beg, "Please. Believe me."

At last, that convinces him and Keith releases his grip slowly, letting Shiro lower him down onto the sandy bank. Shiro wades into the water cautiously, looking over his shoulder at Keith every other step, until he reaches the middle between banks and watches for movement though so far he sees none. He kneels onto the rocky floor where the water is shallow enough that it barely reaches his belly button, hoping to see better in the steadily vanishing light. The same anxiety that has spiked through him whenever he and Keith have been apart starts to gnaw up his spine even though Keith's sitting just a few feet away, and Shiro wonders if it's more than just separation anxiety. As if any worry he has about Keith is enough to trigger some sort of panic, an instinct he shouldn't have but feels anyway.

"Come on... Come _on_ ," he hisses, staring at the water, pleading for something, _anything_ to swim past him. The sun is close to disappearing and the light coming through the dense canopy grows weaker by the moment, so he activates his Galra hand to serve as a makeshift flashlight. He hopes it's not too bright and won't scare away whatever's in the water, but as night falls and his fingers become the only light shining down on the lake, he wishes he'd thought to use it earlier.

Suddenly swarms of small, multi-colored bodies flutter around him through the water, trying to investigate the light, and he barely stops himself from throwing his arms in the air in celebration. Instead he slips his hand beneath the surface slowly, watching as the creatures start to nip at his fingertips. He can't feel any sensation from that arm, but the aliens do as they get burned by the heat of it and swim away, only to come back with the rest of the swarm and try all over again. They look fish-like enough, some the size of guppies and others closer to the size of a housecat, most of them with legs instead of fins and bizarre colorations like purple and neon green. He hopes that doesn't mean they're poisonous, because he's too desperate to wait for another option now.

Shiro stays still for long enough that one of the bigger creatures swims over his open palm to investigate the glow, letting him catch it between his hands with a loud clap as he pulls it out of the water. 

He doesn't dwell on his success, standing abruptly and rushing back to the shore where Keith is shivering and huddled on his side.

"You're okay, I'm here. I'm here," he whispers, pulling Keith into his lap as his hand powers down.

Having Keith between his arms makes holding his catch a bit awkward, but it comforts them both, Keith instantly going still with his face tucked against Shiro's chest. The energy of his hand had begun to cook the creature immediately when he caught it, and as he splits it open with his artificial fingers, he sees it's been done unevenly, parts of the muscles darker in color and the skin charred where he gripped too tight. He picks a piece out that looks cooked but not burnt and takes a small bite, not thinking of whether he might be poisoned or not, but of whether it tastes decent enough that he can feed it to Keith.

Satisfied, Shiro carefully pushes at Keith's shoulder until he's leaning back far enough that their eyes can meet.

"Eat this," Shiro says, picking the best looking parts off the bone and holding them up to Keith's mouth.

Keith blinks at it, then slowly opens his lips and a surge of _something_ rushes through Shiro as he feeds him, biting his own lip when Keith sucks the meat off his fingertips. He activates his hand again and attempts to cook more of the meat that hasn't already been burnt, and he feeds Keith piece after piece, humming gladly every time Keith swallows it down.

It's not until he's run out of meat and tosses the carcass aside that Shiro can think about what just happened, the autopilot turning off and his rationality returning. It's another weird instinct he knows he shouldn't have, this compulsive _need_ to make sure Keith is cared for, compelling him to do things he wouldn't with anyone else. Not that Shiro would've left Keith to deal with his pain alone, but hand feeding the alien you impregnated the previous night is not what immediately comes to mind when he thinks of cooperating for a common goal. 

In his lap, Keith is slow to move. Fear thrums through Shiro until Keith takes a slow inhale and breathes it out again, finally lifting his head up. In the dark, Shiro can't tell if he's gotten much color back in his face, but with their faces still close he _can_ see that Keith looks a lot less miserable, if still exhausted.

Shiro watches the way Keith keeps his eyes down, lifting his chin as if about to speak before dropping it again. He can guess that Keith's feeling embarrassed, but before either of them can figure out what to say, Keith's stomach gurgles loudly in demand of more food now that it's finally gotten a taste of some. Keith's eyes are wide, and despite the lack of light, he's blushing bright enough for Shiro to tell.

"Glad you liked it," Shiro says, smiling and trying not to laugh. It makes Keith push at him, too embarrassed to stay in his lap any longer, and scramble onto his feet to go sit several feet away in the sand. Shiro laughs as he stands and heads back into the water, too relieved that Keith is finally looking better and moving without pain to notice any disappointment at Keith putting distance between them.

Now that it's too late to try and get back to the ship with the sunlight, Shiro doesn't care how long they stay at the water. He catches as many of the fishy creatures as Keith can eat, and then even more until there's a big pile of cooked meat on the bank beside him.

When he's waiting for some of the bigger ones to swim close by, the light of his Galra hand lets him watch Keith use a dagger to cut his meals open and carve meat from bone. He'd completely forgotten that Keith had it, and a memory of Keith easily admitting he'd kill Shiro if it was convenient flashes through his head. He wants to ask where he got that knife—and that outfit, since it's not one he recognizes from any of the Galra guards or prisoners he's seen in his time trapped amongst them. But he decides not to say anything for now, wanting Keith to focus on eating and feeling better.

"I think I've started to get the hang of this," Shiro says after Keith has announced he can't eat anymore and Shiro's walked back to bank to nod down at his "cooking." He knows he pressed too hard or held on too long with a few of them that left them burnt in places, but Keith had eaten everything without complaint—although he'd been too focused on eating to say anything, so maybe he _did_ have complaints but was too hungry to care. Keith shrugs at him, neither confirming or denying Shiro's thoughts, and licks his fingers clean before standing to go wash them off. Shiro counts that as a victory anyway. 

"Think this'll be enough for you for the next few days?" Shiro asks as he starts to heft some of the cooked fish into his arms.

When Keith doesn't answer, Shiro looks over his shoulder to see Keith frowning at him from where he's crouched in the shallow water. "That's not for you?"

Shiro shrugs. "I'll have some, but I'm not the one eating for two. You need more than me."

But that answer just makes Keith grimace more. He stomps over, takes one from the pile in Shiro's arms and slices it open so he can hold up the meat to Shiro's mouth.

"Eat," he instructs.

Shiro blinks at him. "Keith?"

" _Eat_."

"I'm not really that hu—"

"You have to eat just like I do!" Keith shouts, and from the look on his face, the outburst surprises him as much as it does Shiro. He hesitates, squeezing his jaw, but continues in a quiet voice, "We made it this far, so what's the point of starving to death and leaving me stuck out here alone now? I won't take another bite until you do."

Shiro stares at him in shock, not understanding where this sudden stubbornness is coming from. But since Keith has a point—and more notably, a knife—and it's not like he's asking Shiro to eat something awful, he sighs and leans down, obediently wrapping his lips around Keith's fingers and sucking the meat from between them until his cheeks are full. Keith's eyes are round as Shiro pulls back and chews.

"Satisfied?" he asks once he can swallow it down, licking at the edges of his mouth.

Keith jumps a little, like he's snapping out of daze, then nods and focuses on gathering up the rest of the cooked fish still on the ground.

"Let's go," he mumbles as he walks away from the lake without looking back to see if Shiro is following.

Despite the dark, Keith seems to have no trouble making his way through the jungle back to their crashed ship so Shiro lets him lead. He hasn't changed back into looking like a Galra since their escape, but Shiro wouldn't be surprised if his eyes are special, able to see in the dark anyway. There haven't been signs of any moons to shine a lot of light down on them, and while the stars keep it from being pitch black, the bit of light they provide is further dimmed by the thick canopy above them. As he glances up at the thick leaves, he notices that the chorus of animals that had faded into background noise and been forgotten has shifted now, the calls deeper and infrequent but just as loud. He wonders if, like the alien fish, the rest of the wildlife here is more curious at night. Hopefully the doors on their ship are enough to keep them out.

Another question pops up as they get back to the ship. "Uh. You don't think this thing has a fridge, do you?"

Keith gives him a weird look as he walks inside and Shiro follows. The purple display of the controls fills the ship with cool light and it makes him feel like he's inside a tacky store at a mall. It's weirdly comforting.

"What's a fridge?" Keith asks.

"What's a—" Shiro starts, before remembering Keith isn't actually a human from Earth who would be familiar with kitchen appliances. "Right. Uh, it's a cold storage container. A thing to hold all these... fish. Unless these alien ones last longer than the ones Earth, it's going to get smelly in here real fast without one..."

"Oh. I dunno," Keith shrugs. He kicks at one of the panels on the floor and opens up a hidden compartment before casually dropping his armful of fish into it. "I was just gonna leave them in here."

"Or we could do that," Shiro nods, following Keith's lead. The compartment stuffed with their catch, Keith kicks at the panel again and watches it close, sealing tight with a hiss, before settling down on the floor against one of the walls. Shiro makes sure the ship's doors are closed so nothing wild and hungry can find its way inside before he decides to finally bite the bullet and _ask_.

"So... you know your way around these ships?"

Keith tenses. He doesn't answer until Shiro has walked across to the controls and turned the map on, millions of stars filling the space between them.

"I just remember from when I was on one before, that's all."

Shiro hums, waving his hand and moving from galaxy to galaxy. He's not really paying close attention to the map, though. His attention is fully on Keith, the tension he'd developed in his gladiator trials pumping through him. He doesn't think Keith will actually attack him with his knife, considering the lengths he's gone to get Shiro out of the Galra ship alive, but he can't help the reflex. Especially when he can already tell Keith's going to be unhappy with what he has to say next.

"A hidden compartment isn't exactly common knowledge for passengers. You knew how to get to this ship from the cell blocks, too. And somewhere along the way, you found that knife." Keith glares at him from the floor, anticipating Shiro's question. "Who taught you all that? Who does that knife belong to? _Why_ am I taking you to Earth?"

"You think I'm going through all of this for Zarkon?" Keith hisses, and even if he doesn't have his big Galra ears out, Shiro can still picture them flattening against his head in anger.

"No, I know you have no interest in helping him," Shiro says, and he means it. While he can believe in the Galra's cruelty and the heinous lengths they'd go to for any plan, he knows Keith isn't capable of that. He put his body and his life on the line to get _away_ from Zarkon, and Shiro won't ignore that. "But I still deserve to know who you _are_ helping. Who I'm helping by taking you to Earth."

Keith eases a little at Shiro's response, but still looks more interested in fighting than answering.

"Just me," Keith says after a long silence, apparently deciding the fight isn't worth it this time. 

" _Just you_ knew the patterns of the sentries, the layout of the Galra base, where to get to escape ships and a stashed a hidden weapon? I don't think so."

"No! But— they're not why I'm going to Earth, okay? So it doesn't matter."

"They?" Shiro repeats, and Keith clicks his tongue, regretting his slip. "Who are 'they,' Keith?"

"I can't tell you. But I'm not working with them—not anymore, so. There's no one I'm doing this for other than me."

Shiro considers Keith carefully. In just over two days, Shiro has found Keith to be very honest, bluntly so, and a poor liar if he tries to not be honest, so if he swears he has no affiliation with this mysterious ' _they_ ' anymore, then Shiro will believe it. Pushing for information about whoever helped Keith on that Galra ship isn't going to change anything about their current situation, and since he has no intention of going back to the Galra if he can help it, he'll drop it for now. But that still doesn't answer his main question.

"Okay. Then why do _you_ want to go to Earth? Why are you willing to go as far as you have to get there?" 

"I don't have to tell you that," Keith says, no longer interested in giving answers. Now he's ready to fight.

But Shiro doesn't want to fight—though he is weirdly relieved that Keith is energetic enough after how ill he's been all day to be itching for one already—and he's got experience deflating other teen boys looking for any excuse to throw a punch back at the Garrison.

"You've never been to Earth, right? Do you have any idea how big it is?"

Keith looks confused by the question, but tries to ignore it as he demands, "Who cares how big it is?"

"You probably will. You're not going to be able to get very far on foot if that was your plan, and this cruiser will be captured if you try flying it anywhere near humans." The uncertainty spreading across Keith's face is dotted with the lights of stars from the map still shining and rotating slowly between them. Shiro almost doesn't want to continue, an ache in his chest already forming at the thought of dashing Keith's hopes. "And it'll be especially tough if you're looking for a specific person on a planet with several billion of them and don't know where to start."

The fight is gone from Keith in an instant, his shoulders slumping and his eyes dropping to the floor as he looks despondent. Shiro's guess had hit close enough to the mark to throw Keith's confidence out the window, and he regrets it instantly. He steps through the projection of galaxies to sit beside Keith, a desperate need to comfort him making Shiro move before he can think about it.

"But I'll help you when we get there, I promise. I just need to know what I'm helping you do." 

Keith is quiet, and whether he's deciding to tell Shiro the truth or lamenting ever bringing him along, Shiro doesn't know. He lets the silence drag on and focuses on the map now, flicking across it absently without expecting to catch anything he recognizes. He's upset with himself, and for once since they discovered the sex bonding after effects, he can tell that the feeling is genuine.

"What about you?"

Shiro jumps, not expecting Keith to speak, and then he has to take a second to realize what he said. "What about me?"

"What are you going to do when you get to Earth?" Keith asks, turning his head to look at him.

"Oh." Shiro hasn't really stopped to think about it since Keith said he could get him to Earth. Just the thought of getting _away_ from the Galra had been enough to overwhelm him, and there were a lot of distractions after that keeping him too busy to dwell on it. He considers the question, rubbing a hand over his chin. "I'll have to go to the Garrison first, let them know what I saw and warn them about the Galra. Then I'd like to see my family, I guess. And definitely get a hamburger."

"Family..." Keith repeats, pulling his legs up to let him rest his cheek against his knee. That was the right answer to give, Shiro thinks, because the next moment Keith closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "They—... I was supposed to find one of the lions of Voltron. It's on Earth somewhere, sent there to stay hidden and out of Zarkon's reach," Keith explains. "But my dad is on that planet somewhere, too. I want to find him."

"Your dad? The one who gave you this map?" Shiro asks, confused. If a human made this star chart, how could it be so hard to find Earth within it?

But Keith shakes his head, anger darkening his face. "No. I've never met my human dad, my Galra father just told me about him. He might not even know I exist."

Shiro clears his throat and looks back up at the projected map. Well, that certainly sounds complicated. He's even more curious now—how did a Galra and a human meet on Earth? how many other aliens have been on Earth that (most) humans don't know about? what the heck is a voltron and why does it have a lion?—but knows he has to be careful about which questions he asks. Keith is opening up to him out of necessity and he's already gotten the answer he needed so he doesn't want to push too hard and make Keith change his mind.

"What's a voltron?" 

Keith snorts. "Just Voltron. The myth is it once defended the universe against all evil, but it's been several millennia since it was seen. There are five lions that combine to form it, Zarkon has one, and the rest have managed to stay hidden this long, but he's getting closer every moment. The group I'm— I _was_ a part of," Keith corrects himself, "knows the location of one lion, but not the others. It's hard to move anywhere in the universe without the empire noticing though so nobody's gone after it."

"Wait, you know what lions are but not a refrigerator?" Shiro blurts.

He knows it's not what he should be fixating on, but he can't get past it. Keith blinks at him before he starts to laugh, slow at first, until he's nearly hiccuping with it, leaning into Shiro's side as he tries to breathe. It's the first time Shiro has seen him smile or laugh ever, but immediately all he can think is that it suits him so well. He wants to see Keith like this all the time. Shiro can't help but laugh with him, a feeling bubbling up through his chest that he almost doesn't recognize after how long he's been without it. It's _joy_ , he realizes after a while. Something he hasn't had reason to feel in ages.

When Keith can catch his breath, neither of them say anything else. For now, they have no other questions they need to ask and have answered, and the silence is comfortable for the first time instead of tense with stress or worry. Shiro starts to seriously examine the map, only pausing when he notices Keith has fallen asleep against his side. The star map shines across Keith's face like snowflakes dusting his skin. Shiro wants to kiss them off one by one, before sense returns and he snaps his attention back to the map above them, doing his best to pretend he didn't just think that.

He tries and fails to shake the thought of kissing Keith out of his head until he falls asleep too.

•

The good thing about being stuck somewhere with a visible sun is that Shiro can tell that time is passing, and even if he doesn't have an exact reference for how long days are on this planet compared to Earth days, he can keep track of how many times he's seen the sun disappear before returning to give himself a rough estimate.

For the first few days, other than to catch more food or go to the bathroom, they spend most of their time within the ship. Keith's constant queasiness and discomfort doesn't go away after that first day, which convinces Shiro that it really is morning sickness, but without hunger pains adding to his body's stress, it lightens up enough once he gets a chance to eat that he can talk and move around again. The after effects of their bonding still make it hard to be apart for long, the anxiety quickly eating up all of Shiro's attention the few times one of them steps out of the ship without the other, but even that is noticeably weakening. There's relief that it's temporary, but also a strange feeling of disappointment he doesn't dwell on.

After their conversation that first night stranded here, Shiro had been worried that Keith would be upset or distrust him when he explained that finding Earth wasn't going to be immediate, but Keith accepts it easily and fills the time asking questions about Earth, starting with lions.

"Are lions machines on Earth, too?"

"No, they're animals, like a cat." Shiro pauses. Keith probably has no idea what a cat is. "Do you even know what these lions of Voltron look like?" Shiro asks. He glances away from the star system he's making a note of to raise an eyebrow at where Keith is spinning around in the pilot seat. Keith has shown him how to interact with the map beyond just moving around in it, letting him label and change colors to help eliminate areas that aren't what he's looking for.

"I know what they look like," Keith says confidently. He spins a few more times before stopping, a frown spreading across his face. Shiro laughs when Keith clicks his tongue after another minute. "Okay, fine I don't know what they look like. But I know there are five colors: blue, red, black, green and yellow."

"Well lions on Earth typically only come in one color. Maybe a few different shades, but they're mostly tan brown."

Keith hums, sounding disappointed by that news. 

"They've got tails," Shiro offers. "And the male lions have these big fluffy manes."

"What's a mane?"

Shiro holds his hands up around his face, trying to mime one. "It's like hair, just a lot of it, all around their head and neck and stuff."

Keith chews on his lip a moment before he asks, "Do humans have those?"

"No. Well... Okay, technically no, but I guess some people can look like they have them," Shiro laughs, thinking about an old classmate who always got in trouble for growing his hair out and rarely shaving. Everyone including the professors called him Animal so often that Shiro can't remember what his actual name was. But Shiro tries not to think about him for long.

Any time he dwells on the Garrison and the people he knew, he starts to wonder what they think happened to him. If his mother assumes he's dead after all this time. If his name is plastered on the Memorial Wall the students pass by every day, honored for his service with the rest of the pilots who've died in space.

"I thought maybe all humans were bald like you," Keith says, distracting him away from his thoughts.

"I'm not bald! It's an undercut," Shiro says, suddenly self-conscious as he rubs a hand against his head. At one point in the Galra prison his hair had grown long enough for him to notice the white streak that had developed because it was constantly hanging in his face. Once they'd replaced his arm with their Galra tech and he'd gotten the hang of using it, he'd used it to cut as much of it off as possible. He didn't _think_ he'd left any bald spots...

Keith hides his mouth behind his hand, and it's not until Shiro has felt all around his head that he notices Keith is _laughing_.

"Oh ha ha, very funny," he says, realizing he's been teased. But it makes him smile too, enjoying this new ease between them.

Keith isn't the only one who gets to ask questions, but Shiro tries to be careful about what he brings up. He does finally find out what an omega is, which he'd been curious about for a long time now. Apparently there once was a race of aliens called Alteans who worked close enough with the Galra that they married and had children, and even now long after Zarkon killed them all, some Galrans are born with the ability to shift like the Alteans could, allowing them to mate with any species. But Shiro quickly changes the subject once Keith finishes explaining, moving on to ask if Keith's ever seen an ocean and if he has a favorite food.

As more days pass, Keith spends less time sitting around asking Shiro questions about Earth or poking fun at him, instead wandering outside after he's eaten and his morning sickness isn't keeping him immobilized on the floor. Shiro misses his company, and even if it's not as sharp and fearful as before, it's still strong. But he doesn't try to stop Keith or ask him to stay, because he's been in a cage and knows how much of a relief it is to be able to go wherever you want, no fear of guards ready to drag you back to it.

Shiro would spend more time outside too if he wasn't focused on the map, which he's making... some progress on. Keith has been remarkably patient despite how desperate he was to get to Earth in the beginning, and Shiro is coming to understand that Keith isn't really impatient or hot-headed like he'd thought. Even though his memory grows foggier by the day—something Shiro doesn't know whether to be grateful for or worried about—his first impression of Keith is easy to recall. Desperate, quick to act without thinking, the way he'd thrown himself against the cell door despite the pain it caused him. The way he'd tried to force Shiro inside him before he was ready.

But it's clear now that Keith isn't impatient by nature. He's smart. Keith can tell when something can be accomplished, what he can and can't do to make it happen, and makes his choices fully informed before he acts. What's worrying is that he seems to skip the step of weighing the costs and risks to himself when making those choices, which was what Shiro mistook for impatience. His lack of concern for his own body in the now if it can get important things done for the future makes concern squeeze tight in Shiro's chest, thinking about what Keith has accepted as a necessary cost to get them to Earth.

Of the various things they talk about when Keith isn't out and about, the pregnancy is never one of them. Other than the morning sickness, Keith acts as if it's not happening at all. There are so many things Shiro wants to ask but bites down on, knowing it's not his place. He's not the one who has to carry an alien baby, even if he had a part in making it.

And selfishly, he just doesn't want to risk ruining this ease they've found. A strange limbo between friends and partners and lovers when they both know they aren't really any of those things, lines blurred further by the occasional impulses they still feel from their bonding. Feeling an ache for each other's presence when consciously they know it shouldn't be there. Like when Shiro wakes up in the middle of the night to Keith tucked against his chest and there's a thrum of a feeling surging through him that doesn't come from him—a claim, a _belonging_ , something he doesn't understand.

The comfort Shiro takes when he wraps his arms around Keith's side and hears him hum, burying deeper into his warmth, is only his, even if he pretends it isn't. 

But Shiro can only hold his tongue and let them carry on in this peaceful limbo in the middle of an alien jungle for so long until he makes note of about twenty days passing on this planet they're stranded on and sees they might have a problem.

He doesn't bring it up at first. It's possible he's underestimating the length of the sun cycles above them, and all that time in dark cells has warped his conception of time. But the size of Keith's belly when Shiro feels it pressed against his side during the nights that Keith falls asleep too close tells him that the development he's showing isn't just a few weeks fast... it's a few _months_ fast. Shiro may not be an expert on alien-human hybrids but the human half at least shouldn't be looking closer to four months along when it can't have been much more than three weeks.

"Hey, hang on a second," Shiro says one morning as Keith heads for the doors.

Keith looks at him, waiting curiously for whatever he has to say. Shiro has put off bringing this up for a week since noticing, hoping he's been imagining things, but there's already a visible difference now from when he started paying close attention. He has to say something.

"Look. Do you, um, remember what you said? About me getting us to Earth before either of us have to worry about you having the baby?"

Keith's eyes widen for a moment, and then his body language shifts. He closes in on himself, arms crossing and chin dipping down, trying to hide the belly both of them can see already rounding out his body suit.

"Are you saying it's taking you too long?" Keith asks, voice low.

"Not... exactly." Shiro pauses, running a hand through his hair, then sighs. "I think the bigger problem is that you're... well, that _you're_ getting bigger. Faster than you should be." 

Keith's body goes rigid, standing even more tense than before as his fingers grip tight around his arms, nearly going white at the knuckles.

"Why do you think that?" he asks, his tone neither defensive or disbelieving. He's waiting for Shiro to confirm what he already knows, and of course he noticed before Shiro did, it's his own body after all. But Shiro can't help the disappointed, abandoned feeling that bubbles up in his chest now that he realizes Keith didn't come to him for help even after he figured something was wrong. 

"When you told me it wouldn't be a problem, I should've asked, but how long do Galra pregnancies last?" Shiro asks, trying to ignore the sting of being pushed away. It shouldn't bother him like this, he understands why Keith would keep him at arm's length and can't blame him. But it _hurts_.

"Omega pregnancies are supposed to last whatever the length they would for the species they're bred with," Keith says, his voice monotonous and dry, like he's reading out of a manual. Shiro doesn't miss his wording though, and the painful loss in his chest is swallowed up by dread, spreading through him like a chill.

"They're ' _supposed to_ '?" he repeats.

The mechanical apathy in Keith's expression fades into worry as he slowly lets his hands drop from his arms, bringing them to his belly in a way that is practiced and familiar even though Shiro has never seen him do it before. 

"It happens, sometimes. The drugs they use for our heats have a side effect where it can accelerate everything so it can take half the time... or a third, or a fourth... They prefer it, because they get their soldiers faster, but they haven't figured out how to guarantee it. At least, I didn't think they had." He takes a breath and meets Shiro's eyes, looking steeled and ready for the worst news he could get. "How much faster do you think it's going for me?"

Shiro's hands itch to touch Keith, to comfort him and pull him close. He has to squeeze them into fists to keep them still. "You look big enough to be done with your first trimester, so... maybe a third the time? That would give us two more months at best to get to Earth before you..." He trails off, as if not saying what they both know is going to happen somehow makes it less inevitable.

Keith is frozen for a second, before dropping his hands away from his stomach and nodding as walks away from the door, back to the control panels of the ship to turn the map on. "We'll just have to find Earth faster, then. I'll help you look."

But Shiro follows after him, brushing the holographic stars out of his way as he goes.

"Keith, wait." 

"I don't know where Earth is, but I can help eliminate other systems I'm familiar with, or I can—" 

" _Keith_ ," Shiro says, touching a hand to his shoulder, but Keith jerks away from him, stomping through the map. Shiro sighs but keeps his distance this time as he continues, "Maybe Earth isn't the goal we should aim for now. We should find people. Maybe your people? To help you."

"No," Keith says, immediate, flicking his wrist and making the map spin around them both. He won't look at Shiro, but he's not really looking at the stars and planets as they zoom past him, either.

"So you're fine having this baby here? With just me here to help?"

"We'll get to Earth before then, and I don't need your help or anyone else's."

"You can't guarantee that. _I_ can't guarantee that, and even if we do get to Earth, what'll you do then?"

"It doesn't matter."

If it's meant to be a reassurance, it doesn't work. Keith's dismissal of himself makes Shiro's throat tighten and he has to swallow down around his heavy worry before he can speak again. 

His voice is quiet when he says, "Of course it matters."

"It doesn't matter for _you_ so just forget it!" Keith snaps, the words coming out shaky. But it isn't anger making him shake, and his composure begins to crack along with them, his eyes shining as they well up with tears. Shiro is already moving even as Keith tries to keep his expression tough, glaring at Shiro as he gets closer. "You don't even need me to get there anymore, right? What happens to me doesn't matter! It's never mattered, not to my father, not to the Marmora, not—" His words are interrupted as he tries to choke back tears and before he can continue, Shiro reaches him, wrapping wide arms around him and pulling him tight. Whatever anger or resistance Shiro expects, there's none left as Keith fists his hands against Shiro's chest and crumples, sobbing and sagging, leading Shiro down until they're sitting on their knees amidst colorful stars that continue to spin around them, uncaring and undisturbed by the mess they're in. 

Shiro is acutely aware of Keith's belly—not big enough to bump his with the way they're sitting, but not for much longer—as he soothes Keith with quiet promises of, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm here, I won't leave you," while Keith empties all of the tears he's been holding back. He thinks of all that time Keith's spent wandering far from Shiro's side and hopes he hasn't been spending all of his time alone crying like this. He presses a kiss to Keith's temple between his words and it makes Keith freeze, hiccuping for a moment before his sobs finally start to slow down.

"Don't do that," Keith mutters, pushing at Shiro and Shiro lets his arms drop, expecting Keith to get up and move away, but he doesn't. Instead he stays where he is, forehead dropped to Shiro's shoulder to hide his puffy, wet face. Shiro forgets sometimes that this bond affects them both because of how easily Keith seems to leave him behind, but now he can feel it, thrumming between them as Keith finds comfort in Shiro despite his anger. Though Shiro is understanding now that anger isn't for _him_ , exactly.

"Don't do what?"

"Lie," Keith says, followed by a hiccup, his voice raw and scratchy after all that crying. Since he hasn't pulled away, Shiro takes the chance to bring a hand up to Keith's hair. Keith doesn't flinch or slap him away, so Shiro starts to runs his fingers through it, gently squeezing his neck when he reaches the ends of it.

"I didn't lie about anything," Shiro says, which makes Keith's head lift up to glare at him.

"Saying you're not going anywhere. That's a lie. It always is."

Shiro's hand doesn't stop moving through Keith's hair as he considers this. "Have I lied to you so far?"

"Yes! You don't mean any of it," Keith insists.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because it—the connection, the weird bond that shouldn't be there—it's making you say those things. Just like it makes us feel things. You don't mean it," Keith says, sagging and dropping his face back into Shiro's shoulder. His voice is muffled as he adds, "It's not your fault, but... I don't want to hear it anymore."

It's another soft blow—one he knows Keith doesn't mean to make. Shiro can ignore the sting of it better this time though, because Keith is pressed against him, letting him stroke his hair and calm him.

And Shiro supposes he isn't wrong. He's promised things, like getting to Earth soon to comfort Keith even when he didn't believe it fully, and maybe if they hadn't gotten hit by some weird alien sex bond his concern for Keith would be less all-consuming. But even without it, Shiro would still _care_. He'd been convinced that he'd forgotten how, his body ripped open and nothing left within that kept him human after all his time with the Galra. If he felt nothing at all, the bond wouldn't be able to make him feel _anything_ , trying to pull out of him what was no longer there. Instead it just feels...enhanced, pushed to extremes but still coming from something real and genuine. When he thinks about it like that, he's grateful to have it.

But he doesn't really know how to say that without Keith dismissing him right now. Instead he says, "You say I'm lying about not going anywhere, but where am I going to go? We're kinda stuck here together."

"When we get to Earth, you'll go to your Garrison."

Shiro frowns, suddenly confused why that's a problem. "Well, yeah, it's important to tell them about the Galra, I mean they're taking over the universe, right? But I'm still going to help you find your dad. And... deal with this baby, if you'll let me."

It's Keith's turn to pull away and look at Shiro with furrowed eyebrows. "What?"

"Keith, I can help you. I _will_ help you, and if you ever thought I wasn't offering that, it's because I thought _you_ were going to leave the minute we landed to go do whatever it was you needed to do. But I wouldn't leave you to do this on your own if you wanted my help. Not after what you did for me. Weird alien feelings or not, I'd still feel that way."

There's doubt on Keith's face that Shiro wishes he could kiss away—and even if he wants to blame that on the alien connection thing, he's pretty sure that's just him—but instead he drops his hand from Keith's hair, finding Keith's fingers to twine them together.

"I hope you can believe me," Shiro says, his voice quiet as he bumps their foreheads together. "Maybe not now, not right away, but eventually. I'm not going anywhere without you unless that's what you want. I'm here to help you with anything, even if that's just getting you to Earth, or if it's sticking around and helping find your dad and deal with the baby. Whatever you need, I want to help."

Keith's eyes are wide as he stares back into Shiro's, and his free hand moves to his belly in a way that Shiro thinks is instinctual rather than conscious. 

"I haven't... I haven't really thought about it. What I'm supposed to do with it once it's here."

"Well... Normally you'd have plenty of time before you need to think about it, but it's happening sooner than either of us thought," Shiro says, pulling away. He keeps his hand squeezed with Keith's, stroking his thumb along the back of Keith's knuckles. "So. Are you sure you don't want to go find your people? These, uh, Marmora? At least to help with delivering it."

Keith's face sours and Shiro winces, but he really wants to take Keith somewhere other than this nowhere planet to at least get checked up on. He knows the diet they've been surviving on probably isn't everything a pregnant person needs, and they aren't even sure how much time they have left before Keith's due.

"No, I want to focus on finding Earth," Keith says, insistent. "I've been feeling better anyway, I don't need to see any healers."

Shiro sighs. "Morning sickness does tend to lighten up by the end of the first trimester, so at least my guess was close. That leaves us with maybe two months if we're lucky. If we haven't figured out where to go by then, will you _please_ let me take you to someplace with people? It doesn't have to be the Marmora, just. A place that can help deliver a baby. I don't think we can do it here."

"We'll get to Earth before then. But fine."

Shiro isn't sure where Keith finds this confidence, but it's starting to work on him, too. The more Keith says they'll find Earth, the more Shiro believes it. 

"Can I lie down?" Keith asks. He must be exhausted after everything, and Shiro quickly nods, letting go of his hand and scooting away to give him space. But Keith frowns and scoots over to him, tugging at his elbow. "I meant with you."

"Oh," Shiro says, feeling his face grow warm. He lies down and stares up at the ship's roof, the map of galaxies spinning slowly above them. Keith stretches out beside him, bumping his belly against Shiro's waist and resting his head on Shiro's shoulder where he's spread his arm out to let Keith slot against his side. After a while, not sure if Keith is asleep or not, he speaks up. "So. Can I ask?"

"About what?" Keith's response is quick.

"Who the Marmora are? They're the ones searching for Voltron, right?"

Keith is quiet, and Shiro thinks maybe he shouldn't have asked after all. But he can't help but be curious, especially now that Keith's let the name slip and doesn't seem to care too much for them. Keith's hand had settled over Shiro's chest and now it taps out a lazy rhythm as he debates what to answer.

"You can't tell anyone," Keith says at last. "No one at your Garrison. I'm only telling you because I know you would never help Zarkon."

A rush of pleasure shoots through him at hearing that Keith trusts him with this. "I won't," he says, and it's an easy thing to promise. He wasn't planning on telling the Garrison _everything_ about his escape anyway.

"The Blade of Marmora is a group of us. Galra, or descended from Galra, fighting against Zarkon. My father... was a member." Keith's fingers go still. Shiro tilts his head to look down at him and sees his face is pinched, ready to fight back tears again. Shiro lifts his hand from the floor to squeeze at Keith's side in hopes of comforting him and smiles when he sees Keith visibly relax. "I don't think he knew he was pregnant with me when he accepted his mission. The Marmora have infiltrated Zarkon's command at various levels, so that's what he did, and then he had me. I was born on one of the low-ranking vessels, tiny with a small crew mostly made up of sentries, so he could hide me. I grew up moving from ship to ship, sneaking around them, getting visits from him once every few days. Until he got promoted to a position that was worth too much to the Marmora. He couldn't risk being caught, especially not with a child."

Keith takes a deep breath and Shiro has to inhale, too, aware of what's coming.

"So he left me," Keith whispers, not sounding bitter or even hurt over it, but simply empty. As if he's spent too long suffering at the memory of it and run out of energy to keep feeling it. But he still sniffles a little bit before he continues, "And without him, I was found eventually, by Zarkon's Galra. Their druids examined me, found out I was an omega, and then I was shipped off to the prize pool to be prepared for when I was old enough to have heats. There were Marmora guards stationed on the base with the gladiator arena, and when they found out I was there they told me they couldn't break me out, because it wasn't worth it. 'The mission cannot be compromised for one person.' But they would create a stash for me, since I'd been on ships like that one to know the layout and how to find it. It would have a uniform, my father's blade, and his map. I don't know if that means he's dead or not, but I don't care."

Shiro feels winded, his chest heavy as he watches Keith's eerily calm face while he explains. Keith's fear, his anger, his insistence on getting to Earth, it all makes sense now. Shiro can't imagine a life like that, and it makes his hand squeeze tighter against Keith, wanting to keep him at his side forever.

"They're not wrong," Keith adds suddenly, his voice steadier now. "Defeating Zarkon, saving the universe. It's all more important than rescuing one omega who can't do anything. I don't matter."

"Don't say that," Shiro hisses, shaking his head against the cool ship floor. Keith blinks up at him in surprise and Shiro says again, "Don't say that. You do matter. You saved my life."

But the doubt is back in his face, breaking something in Shiro's chest that he didn't know was there. "I didn't—" Keith starts, but Shiro won't let him.

"I would still be there, trapped like an animal, without you. And you're getting me to Earth, where I can warn the whole planet of Zarkon's arrival. You're saving the world. Well, _a_ world. And maybe more down the line." Shiro lifts his Galra hand from where he'd been resting it on his stomach and gently touches it to Keith's face. "Never think that you don't matter."

Keith stares at him, shock and disbelief warring on his face until finally he looks away, burying his face against the side of Shiro's chest. He doesn't say anything and Shiro doesn't push anymore. Keith has shared so much, things he didn't have to but chose to because it's Shiro he's sharing them with, and that is victory enough for today. Shiro shifts onto his side so he can better pull Keith against his chest, and Keith lets himself be tugged closer and squeezed tight, his own hands reaching up and around Shiro's neck. They fall asleep like that, emotionally drained but comforted, relaxed in each other's arms.

After that, they find a balance.

It's better than the limbo of before, because it's openly acknowledged and they both know they're _something_ , if not friends or lovers yet. It's no longer nebulous, waiting for a moment to burst and leave them stranded and alone, but it is just as delicate and when Shiro isn't focusing on the map, he's thinking about how to handle their new relationship. He tries to be careful, never asking for what he worries might be too much just yet—he wants to kiss Keith, to know what he tastes like even though it's probably the same old taste of alien fish they've been eating for weeks now—and also making sure not to ask for nothing and leave Keith feeling unwanted, never wanting to add to his fears of being left behind again.

Keith is literally an alien to the human ideas of dating, so Shiro doesn't bother pretending that's what this is. It's more a sharing of comfort, and a path towards really being friends. It's exciting nonetheless, the relief of having someone to just... see, and talk to, the way Shiro hasn't had in so long. The dark spots in his memory keep growing, sparing him the pain of reliving them, but the feelings remain, etched into his brain like the scars on his skin, and Keith being here pushes them away to replace them with something familiar and safe.

The daily outings that had stressed Shiro so much suddenly stop with Keith determined to help narrow down the areas on the map until they can find the Milky Way and Earth inside it. They don't talk any more about the Marmora, and Shiro is happy to let the topic drop because now Keith openly talks about his pregnancy instead. Where before they both insisted on pretending it wasn't happening, now Keith shares his curiosities and his pains and his worries.

Nearly a week after they addressed Keith's rapidly progressing pregnancy for the first time, Keith wakes up in a panic, sitting bolt upright and grabbing at his stomach.

Shiro rushes to his side from where he'd been eating his breakfast, half-burnt alien fish bulging in his cheeks as he tries to ask what's wrong but sounds more like an animal growling unhelpfully through his full mouth.

"It's moving!" Keith says, looking terrified, "I can feel it, is it going to come out now? You said we had two months! I don't want it to come now!"

Shiro chokes on his mouthful and has to step away, not wanting to spray Keith with his chewed up fish. When he can swallow properly and finally catch his breath, he comes back to Keith's side, trying not to laugh.

"You're fine. It's not coming yet," he says. He slides his hand onto Keith's back and rubs at it in reassurance. "All babies move. It's a sign that they're okay, and y'know. Developing."

"Really?" Keith asks, looking displeased. He frowns down at his belly, which is already quite a bit bigger even after barely a week. Shiro wonders sometimes if his Marmora uniform is getting too tight and uncomfortable, but they don't have any other clothes so he can't offer an alternative. Except to strip, but the thought of Keith naked and pregnant in full, constant view causes him too much stress to even consider bringing it up. "It's uncomfortable," Keith complains after a moment, touching his hand to it. He flinches back suddenly soon after and looks up at Shiro, astonished. "It kicked me!"

Shiro doesn't share Keith's annoyance, and instead stares down at his stomach with wonder. "Can I... can I feel it?" he asks, a bit embarrassed by how excited he suddenly is at the idea.

"Sure, if you want to get kicked at, too," Keith shrugs.

He brings his left hand slowly to Keith's belly, flicking his eyes up at Keith's face every so often as if expecting him to change his mind, but Keith just watches with mild irritation aimed at his body's rambunctious occupant while Shiro waits to feel something. 

"Did it... did it stop?" Shiro asks, frowning when nothing happens after a couple minutes.

"Yeah, actually," Keith says. He looks at Shiro curiously. "I think you calmed it down."

"Me? I didn't do anything, though."

"Well, you calmed _me_ down."

That makes Shiro laugh bashfully and he pulls his hand away, a bit disappointed. But before he can get very far, Keith reaches out and grabs his wrist to tug him back. "Wait," he says, staring at his stomach before bringing Shiro's hand to a specific spot. Shiro feels it then, the soft brush of something small but strong, kicking up against his palm.

"Holy shit," he says, even though he's been around pregnant relatives and felt a baby kick before. It's never been his baby before.

Holy shit, he thinks as it hits him in the gut. That's _their_ baby. 

It knocks him on his ass, falling clumsily onto the floor beside Keith where he just stares dumbly at his belly, awed and elated and terrified all at the same time. Keith lets Shiro keep his hand on him until he can properly think and move again, apologizing for losing himself when he finally pulls away. He stares at his palm, opening and closing his fingers as if unsure that what he felt was real.

Over the next few days, it very slowly sinks in that it _is_ real. Not some nebulous, maybe-in-the-future thing but a real thing, tangible and close. And also starting to give poor Keith trouble sleeping by getting excited and moving around only once he's gotten comfortable. This knowledge that the baby is real in a weird way helps strengthen their not-quite-relationship by giving them something else in common: being parents-to-be. Which is weird to think about, but not unpleasant. Shiro is at ease, Keith always by his side and openly sharing updates about the baby, pleased by the balance they've found.

But like so many other things, Keith smashes through it very abruptly when he comes to Shiro one night just over a week after the baby started moving, looking miserable and focusing his eyes anywhere but Shiro's face.

"I need you to fuck me," he says, sounding like he's worried more about the inconvenience of it than anything. Shiro can't speak even though his jaw drops open. Keith doesn't wait for him to find his voice as he begins to babble, "N-Not because I'm bored or trying to distract you from the map or anything, it just... It's the baby, it's been making me feel almost like I'm back in heat, but I know it's _not_ that because it's nowhere near as intense and I'm already pregnant anyway, but I can't concentrate on anything, I can't feel comfortable, I just. I need to have sex, and I don't want to do it out in the jungle, but doing it myself while you're sitting here would just feel weird, and Shiro, you said..."

He pauses, finally dragging his eyes to meet with Shiro's. His cheeks are pink and he sucks on his lips a moment, deliberating how to say whatever he's thinking.

"You said you'd help me with anything, and we've already done it before, so... Please help me." 

And how in the world could Shiro say no to that? Not that he wants to say no. Fuck, he can already feel himself getting hard. There's a bit of sudden awkwardness between them now as Keith stands there, waiting for Shiro's answer, but it's so different from the last time they did this when they were both treating it as mechanical, perfunctory, desperate to get it over with. Now Keith's face is flushed and Shiro's hand sweats because they know it's going to be closer to something like what lovers do. A shift in their balance, but one Shiro is happy to make if Keith is offering.

Wordlessly, Shiro holds out his hand. He'd been in the middle of examining a galaxy that he thinks might be familiar, but he's forgotten it entirely as Keith takes his hand and steps closer, his face dotted with the light of tiny stars.

"Can you help me take this off?" Keith asks, reaching around his back.

When they go to the water to bathe, they usually keep to themselves while they do it, both of them stripping separately and cleaning in private. It's a small gesture to let the other have time to themselves, and also proof that the alien connection they'd unwittingly formed is barely remaining, with no stress or fear anymore while they're completely apart from each other.

The invitation to undress Keith now makes Shiro swallow loudly and he nods, but before Keith can turn around, Shiro slides a hand around his back, finding the part of the uniform that separates. He pulls Keith closer as he undoes it carefully, his eyes dropping to Keith's mouth, and then to his belly between them. Keith reaches up to his shoulders to pull the uniform off of his arms slowly, then pushes it down and off his stomach and finally his legs. Shiro hasn't paid much attention to the changes in Keith other than his belly, but naked and close like this Shiro can see the way his chest is starting to get bigger, his arms and face a bit filled out, too. Keith looks soft and beautiful, and Shiro's hands ache to touch him.

He doesn't realize how long he's been silent until Keith starts to cover himself, as if feeling self-conscious and rejected. "Don't," Shiro says, and his voice is coarse. He takes Keith by the wrists and pulls his arms open, letting him see everything again. After a moment Shiro's eyes shoot upward and he holds Keith's gaze. "You're amazing. You look... amazing."

"I want to see how you look," Keith says, managing to sound shy despite the casual boldness of his request. Shiro looks down at himself, so fully absorbed in Keith that he can't remember if he's dressed or not until he checks and sees he is, in fact, still in the same prisoner clothes he's had since they escaped. He's quick to undress, a vague feeling of familiarity as he strips down in front of Keith, but the tension in the air is new, a thick, heavy _want_ permeating through it.

Shiro's cock is half hard against his thigh already, a far cry from his struggle their first time. Keith looks at it and licks at his lip as if hungry for it, and Shiro has to bite down on a groan.

"Tell me," he starts, has to pause to clear his throat making his voice too rough, tries again, "Tell me what else you want."

Keith's eyes drag up very slowly, taking him in carefully. They linger on scars, where flesh stops and metal begins, and finally on his mouth before looking up into Shiro's eyes.

"I want to come," he says. He reaches a hand forward, taking Shiro's Galra wrist and pulling it towards him. "I want you to make me come."

Shiro inhales so sharply it almost makes him dizzy. He wants that, too. He wants to please Keith and make him dead to the world with pleasure, Shiro's touch the only thing tethering him it.

His artificial fingers twitch hesitantly—he hasn't touched Keith's belly with his Galra hand before. He's always been conscious not to, wary of himself even if Keith isn't, but the invitation, the _trust_ there, that Shiro won't, can't hurt him even with the worst part of himself makes him brave. Shiro's hand splays out across Keith's skin, stretched taut and warm. The baby isn't moving now, maybe resting, but his usual disappointment at missing out on feeling the baby is gone, too fully absorbed in _Keith_.

And Keith is too demanding of his attention to let him linger even if he was disappointed. His fingers slide over the back of Shiro's hand and guide it, sliding down the roundness of his stomach to where his fingertips meet coarse hair, then further still until he feels where Keith is wet and hot to the touch. His eyelids flutter closed and his mouth drops open as Shiro drags one finger slowly between his lips. He's not as wet as he was when he was in heat, but he's also not dry and tight, proof he's not forcing himself this time.

"Lie down," Shiro instructs, desperate to touch him more. They've grown accustomed to sleeping on the fairly uncomfortable metal floor, but he splays out their discarded clothes to give Keith some semblance of a blanket, easier for his back which Keith has talked about feeling sore, especially with the new, ever-increasing weight of his stomach. 

Shiro follows Keith down once he's stretched out, settling between his legs. The map of stars reflects down on him where he lies and Shiro is frozen in awe for a moment. Keith could be his own star, Shiro thinks, strong enough to pull Shiro to him through billions of miles of space. He feels that if they ever were separated now, no force in the universe could stop Keith from bringing him back, no matter how far apart they were.

He's fully hard now, erection fat and heavy against his thigh, but he ignores it. Keith only knows sex as perfunctory, a process for one purpose. Shiro wants to show him it can be more. 

He starts by pressing kisses to Keith's belly, enjoying the way Keith sucks in a breath at the first touch of lips to his skin. Keith is sitting up on his elbows and watches curiously the further Shiro goes until he's reached his legs and moves on to kissing down the jut of his hip, the warm top of his thigh. Keith can tell he's being teased, even if he's not sure what exactly he's being teased for, and makes a face.

"Not that," he says, his voice breathy. "Touch me."

Shiro smiles against Keith's skin before lifting away. He shifts backwards on his knees a bit, giving himself more room to lean down between Keith's legs, but he doesn't miss the growing irritation in Keith's face at being denied.

"Trust me," he says, and Keith blinks in surprise before his expression softens and he nods.

Keith's belly is big enough that if he lays flat on his back, he won't be able to see Shiro's head between his legs anymore, so he stays perched on his elbows. Even like that, Shiro's face disappears behind it as he lowers his mouth to Keith's wet lips and licks, making Keith shudder and shout.

"What— Wait, what—" Keith stammers, a hand shooting forward to grab at Shiro's hair. Shiro answers by spreading him open with his thumbs and licking again. Keith's legs begin to shake and squeeze around Shiro's shoulders and he grins as he continues.

This hadn't been what he meant when he thought about wanting to taste Keith's lips, but he's enjoying it all the same. Keith tastes like something sharp and bitter, but delicious and Shiro laps at him as if he's starving, and in a way he is. He hasn't tasted anything but mediocrely cooked alien meat for weeks and Keith is new, wonderful. _His_ to experience and discover like no one else has.

"S-Shiro, ahh— nngh, _Shiro_!" Keith gasps when Shiro starts to fuck him deeper with his tongue. His fingers are squeezed tight in Shiro's hair and his chest and belly heave with every breath. Shiro doesn't relent until he hears Keith drop down onto his back with a soft thump, his other hand bumping at Shiro's nose as he tries to reach for his clit. Shiro finally pulls his mouth away and gently pushes Keith's hand out of his face, moving it to rest on Keith's belly. Keith's clit is unhooded, hard and red and Shiro closes his mouth over it, feeling the sharp jolt Keith's entire body makes against his tongue. He brings two fingers to Keith's hole and presses them in where he's opened Keith up, going gently at first until he feels Keith's fingers tug and takes it for the encouragement that it is.

Keith starts to come like a crescendo, the shaking of his body building all around Shiro and his harsh breathing turning into moans. Shiro's fingers thrust into him in a hard rhythm that only gets stronger the more he feels Keith's legs squeeze at him and his feet kick out around him, scrambling against the clothes he's lying on for a steady grip. Shiro's tongue strokes at Keith's clit with a pace that matches his fingers, occasionally stopping just to suck around it and press down against it, shocking Keith with sharp, sudden pleasure.

Shiro feels the moment of Keith's climax when Keith arches his hips upward suddenly, pushes back against Shiro's tongue and his fingers, and Shiro keeps them moving, fucking him through his orgasm. Keith's body is snapped taut and his thighs shudder violently as he barely keeps himself lifted, his fingers in Shiro's hair no longer clenched into a fist but spread out, as if trying to push Shiro's face away with his hand, too overwhelmed and wanting to escape it. There's no strength in it though and Shiro doesn't stop, even after Keith's legs give out, Shiro catching his ass with a hand to keep him from slamming hard back onto the floor.

After that, Shiro's fingers slow down and his tongue moves in gentler, massaging circles that still make Keith's whole body twitch and spasm. When he hears Keith hiss, too sensitive for Shiro to keep going, he finally stops and wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand. He sucks his fingers clean and watches Keith's face as he drops his hands to Keith's thighs, rubbing up and down over them softly.

Keith looks exhausted, his whole body expanding and shrinking with every slow breath. He blinks tired eyes up at Shiro as both of his hands rub absently over his belly. It's that sight—Keith, fucked out and pregnant, because of _him_ —that makes Shiro's dick jump, neglected and now painfully hard. He grunts and wraps his wet fist around it, squeezing tight once and almost falling forward with how it makes him ache to come. He can't wait to be inside Keith, he has to come now, and he strokes himself with sudden desperate need, holding himself up with one arm over Keith's stomach until he's coming, spurting thick seed all over Keith's skin.

"Fuck," he breathes, embarrassed at how quickly he just made a mess of himself all over Keith.

Keith just seems fascinated and looks down at himself with lazy eyes as he moves a hand to Shiro's come where it drips down the roundness of his belly. He spreads his fingers through it and makes Shiro whimper, his cock pulsing in his hand at the sight.

"You came for me?" Keith asks, his voice weak as if he's just woken up, but Shiro feels shaky from hearing it, bowled over by its power over him.

"Yeah, baby, you made me come," he says, not realizing what he's said for a good few seconds after. His shoulders go rigid and his eyes freeze on Keith's face when he notices, not sure what to do.

Keith looks up at him confused. "Because of the baby?"

"No— well, yeah— I mean—" Shiro shuts his mouth quickly with a loud click of his teeth as he scrambles to stop embarrassing himself. But that makes Keith frown, and he slowly pushes up on his elbows until he's sitting up to bring himself closer to Shiro's face.

"Did you... call _me_ baby?" he asks, piecing it together. Shiro gives a silent nod and watches as Keith tilts his head, considering the pet name. "Shiro, baby," he says suddenly, as if tasting the word. He decides he doesn't like it, shaking his head as he says, "It sounded better coming from you." That startles Shiro, but then he laughs, dropping his head and bumping it against Keith's shoulder.

"How do you feel?" he asks, the awkwardness shattered and the calm ease of post-orgasm laziness settling back over him.

"I feel... amazing. I've never felt like that before, not even in heat," Keith hums, Shiro's chest swelling with pride at the praise. "What was that? With your mouth?"

Shiro lifts his head up and gives Keith a wink. "You liked it?"

Keith's face flushes a bit under the moving stars. "Yeah. I've never... I've never thought of that, having it done to me. The Galra don't..." He trails off, decides he doesn't want to talk about it. Instead he says, "Is that a kind of sex on Earth? What else is there?"

Shiro sucks in a breath and has to close his eyes for a second. 

"A lot more than I know about," he says honestly, but he holds up a hand and waits for Keith to take it, letting Shiro guide him up onto his feet. Shiro takes their clothes, which are a bit damp and dirty now, and brings them over to the wall of the ship, splaying them out again and sitting atop them with his back against. He spreads his legs out and waves for Keith to sit between them which he does obediently, his ass pressing against Shiro's dick and making it start to harden again.

"But we can find out together. If you want," he says.

"Mm," Keith agrees softly.

Shiro lets Keith position his hands where he wants them, settling them over the top of his belly. It feels incredibly domestic, like they've made a home here out of a crashed Galra escape ship in a jungle billions, maybe even trillions of miles from where they hope to go. Shiro rubs at Keith's stomach absently, laughing when he feels the faintest of movement beneath his hands. Keith sounds less amused and grunts in what Shiro thinks is discomfort, until he realizes it's dissatisfaction, his hands tugging at Shiro's wrists trying to make him attend to his clit again.

"I need more. I need you to touch me more," he whines.

Shiro kisses at his ear and promises, "I will. As much as you want, baby, I'm here." He blushes at letting it slip again, even though Keith can't see his face, but he likes the sound of it. 

Keith moans, relaxing back against Shiro's chest as Shiro's hand finds his entrance. He teases him a little, just touching around his wet lips before Keith squeezes at him impatiently and he obeys. He's less rushed this time, less eager to get Keith off and show that he can please him now that they both know that he can. His fingers move slowly, gently, rubbing around Keith's lips before slipping into his hole while his thumb brushes occasionally against Keith's clit.

It's fascinating to watch Keith from this angle, looking down at his belly as he softly rocks along to Shiro's touches. He also gets a good look at Keith's nipples for the first time since Keith shifted from looking Galra and revealed he had them, now hard and stubbled against his chest. Curious, Shiro drags his hand from Keith's stomach up to his left nipple and very slowly rubs a finger down against it.

" _Ahhh_ ," Keith shouts immediately in response, his chest heaving with surprise. He looks down at himself in bewilderment as Shiro presses against it again, making his body shiver. His next response is a low moan when Shiro moves both of his hands in tandem, a slow drag over both his clit and his nipple that makes his legs shoot out between Shiro's, stretching against the pleasure. It makes his ass bump against Shiro's dick, hard and trapped behind him, but Shiro is barely conscious of it, too absorbed in Keith and Keith's pleasure to care much about his own yet.

"I think about this... all the time, y'know," Keith admits suddenly.

Shiro's hands still and he feels his heart thump loudly. He wonders if Keith can feel it too against his back. "It's why I didn't want to stay in this ship, with you, once I could move around... I wanted... I wanted things. Like this. I don't know if it was the bond or not, so I wanted to try and break it. See how far away I could get until it stopped aching."

That makes Shiro's gut twist unpleasantly, knowing that Keith was leaving him behind intentionally. 

"But now it's gone and even though there's no ache making me want you, you still smell too good."

"Me?" Shiro asks, dazed, his hands moving again. He glances down at the prisoner uniform they're sitting on that he's been trapped in for ages and how seldom he'd gotten a chance to bathe before they crashed here. "I smell good?"

"Mm," Keith hums as Shiro fingers him, "it's like... ahhh, warm. Just... good. I... I can't... explain well. I think it's... it's why I so often wake up next to you. I look— _ngh,_ ahh... I look for it, for you when I sleep."

Shiro's heart is pounding now, though he's not sure why. This confession is more thrilling to him even with his fingers inside Keith and pleasuring him. He drops his mouth to Keith's shoulder and hesitates a moment before he asks, "What... what else did you do out there? Without me?"

"Just walked..." Keith sighs, his hips starting to roll down against Shiro's touches. Shiro's left hand is still on his belly, and he touches it carefully, in awe of it.

"You didn't touch yourself? Like this? Thinking of me?" he asks. His fingers slow to a stop and Keith whines, tosses his head back and forth, finally turning to whimpers until Shiro starts again.

"No, I didn't w-want to."

"Why not?" Shiro asks, and his voice is getting rougher now. He presses his thumb down over Keith's clit hard and makes him gasp, his head lolling forward.

"W-wouldn't—" Keith tries to answer, but he's losing himself, his hips pushing up against Shiro's hand harder, wanting, needing more pressure.

Shiro gives it to him as his thumb moves in hard circles and his fingers slide inside Keith, wet noises mixing in the air filled with Keith's harsh breaths. His finger pinches at Keith's nipple too, his hand spreading out around his chest and squeezing, making Keith moan harshly. Keith's hands grab for Shiro, his nails digging into Shiro's thighs and making him wince but he doesn't stop, making his touches harder, faster, encouraging Keith's steady climb to orgasm.

Keith comes again with a loud shout and a buck of his hips as his head drops back against Shiro's shoulder. He practically sobs as Shiro keeps his fingers moving even as his whole body trembles and shakes. Shiro's mouth presses small kisses along Keith's shoulder, sucking at his skin lightly in encouragement and praise. He drops his hand back to Keith's belly once he finally stops milking Keith's orgasm and the baby moves beneath it once and he hopes it's not too bothered by the ruckus they're making, but he can't feel too bad about it. Keith is melting in his arms, blissed out with pleasure, and all because of him.

"It wouldn't... feel as good," Keith says after a while when he can speak again, his body no longer shaking. It's long enough after his question that Shiro doesn't realize what he's answering.

"What wouldn't?"

"Me, touching myself. It's not enough after you."

"Fuck, Keith," Shiro breathes, lifting his hand from Keith's belly to thread through his hair. His other hand finds Keith's hip and he pushes Keith forward with his hold on him, onto his hands and knees with his hard cock still pressed against Keith's ass. "Shit, sorry, I need to—" 

"Do it. Anything, come for me, please, Shiro, _please_ ," Keith gasps when Shiro's fingers tighten in his hair.

He doesn't push inside Keith, even though he's open, wet and ready for him. He keeps his dick tight against the crack of Keith's ass and thrusts, rubbing himself off against his skin. For a moment, he doesn't feel like himself. He feels something baser, more instinctual, demanding to mark Keith as his. Before he can really think about it, he comes quickly a second time and his mind empties as his body sags, Keith humming gratefully beneath him. There's no embarrassment this time at how quickly his orgasm hit him, just lazy satisfaction as he slides down onto his side and Keith flops gently beside him, lying as close as he can with his belly bumping up against Shiro's between them.

"We should get clean," Shiro says through a large yawn.

"Not right now. I'm tired. Plus I kinda like it."

"Like what?" Shiro asks, his eyes closing.

"Having you all over me."

Shiro's eyes slam back open and he groans. "Jesus, Keith."

"What?"

"How do you... how do you say that stuff so easily? Fuck," he hisses again, feeling his worn out dick pulse, wanting to get hard again. He ruts forward up against Keith a few times, bumping against the wetness still coating his belly, but he's too tired and his cock stays soft.

"You should say stuff more," Keith counters. His hand finds Shiro's and brings it to his belly. "When you asked if you could touch me, feel the baby... It made me really happy. Before that, I'd never felt—" He stops, shaking his head, and Shiro wishes desperately to know what he was going to say, so he can make sure Keith feels it always with him. But Keith just looks back at him, frowning a little. "I want to know what makes you happy, too."

 _This makes me happy_ , Shiro thinks honestly. Even if this started somewhere dark and cold and evil, it's brought him here. It's not Earth but it's just as comforting, a safe and wonderful warmth here in this dim ship, illuminated by a map of the cosmos. 

"Shiro?" Keith asks when Shiro says nothing.

"I want to kiss you," Shiro says suddenly, the words tumbling out of him unbidden, and he instantly regrets it.

There's confusion on Keith's face, and Shiro feels terrified, like he's ruined the balance they've found by asking too much. It doesn't matter that they're naked and sated together after having sex already. A kiss is something more—something too close to _I love you_ that he doesn't know if he's ready to admit yet—and he's complicated their new comfortable ease by asking for it. He's ready to pull away, to give Keith space and go run to the lake to dunk his head underwater and maybe consider drowning but after another moment Keith just shrugs.

"Where?"

"W-Where?" Shiro stutters as he repeats him.

"You already did that. On my belly, and on my ear and stuff, remember?" he says, touching his shoulder. Shiro feels his face go hot. "You can kiss me anywhere, I don't care. It feels nice."

The relief that rushes through Shiro is so strong that he has to take a few deep breaths, feeling his eyes grow wet. He hasn't ruined it, he thinks, feeling giddy, and without thinking he moves forward, brings a hand to Keith's face and pulls him into a kiss.

It's chaste and gentle, a kiss of gratitude rather than lust. When they break apart, Shiro doesn't pull away, watching Keith's face as he blinks his eyes back open. He looks stunned, and then curious, and then hungry as he leans forward this time, grabbing at Shiro's hair as he kisses him hard. He doesn't really know what he's doing and Shiro laughs, mumbling, "Open your lips for me," against his mouth. Keith does, gasping when Shiro's tongue slips past his lips to dance with his own. Keith is a quick study, mirroring Shiro's lips and his tongue as he kisses him over and over until his mouth feels sore with it.

This time when they pull away, they both breathe heavily, Shiro's eyes hooded as he looks at Keith's bright, kiss-swollen lips. The air is charged between them now, more than ever before, even as they fucked and came together. Waiting, expectant. Shiro's afraid to blink and break it, and Keith stares back at him just as entranced, until suddenly he flinches and he glares down at his stomach.

"Ow! You don't have to kick me like that!"

Shiro has to swallow down against a feeling of regret as he thinks, _You could have said it right then,_ and he tries to ignore it as he chuckles, his fingers playing with Keith's hair.

"I don't think yelling at it will stop it."

"Ugh. What _will_ stop it?"

"Maybe food? I know it's late but we did have some... exercise."

"I'm too tired to eat..."

Shiro hums thoughtfully, pauses, then presses a kiss to Keith's forehead through his bangs. The thrill that he's allowed to do it buzzes through him again and it makes Keith lift his head up, his eyes bright despite his claim to be tired. When Shiro doesn't kiss him again, he shifts forward to kiss at Shiro's chin himself.

"How about this: we sleep, we eat, and then we go bathe and wash the come off our only clothing."

Keith mumbles his agreement to the plan between pecks at Shiro's cheeks and Shiro laughs when Keith finally finds his lips again, eager to use what he's just learned. But Shiro is nodding off, exhausted by the thrill of so many things and the wobbly afterglow of orgasm making his eyelids heavy.

"Turn around," he says, pressing his face into Keith's hair.

"Hm? Why?"

"So we can sleep together without me worrying about squishing the baby."

"Oh."

Keith does as instructed and rolls over, letting Shiro wrap an arm around his side and tug him close until they're pressed tightly together, back to chest.

"This feel okay?" Shiro asks, his eyes closed again. He inhales a deep breath against Keith's hair, the scent of something warm and comfortable filling his nose. He thinks maybe he understands what Keith had been talking about now.

"Yeah." After a minute, Keith whispers, "Shiro?"

"Hmm," Shiro hums, already starting to fall asleep.

"Can we add something to the plan?"

"What?"

"... Before we bathe I want to have sex again."

Shiro chokes on air and has to spend several minutes coughing and catching his breath before he can agree, enthusiastically, to Keith's change in the plan.

•

It takes Shiro over a day to notice what had been floating above their heads that night: a chunk of the universe that he _knew_ , could find all the familiar patterns and heavenly bodies within, and navigate his way from them to Earth. When he realizes—after they've eaten, bathed, fucked again, bathed again, and slept some more—he has to sit down in the pilot chair, holding his hand to his chest to keep his heart from bursting out of it.

Home. He's found it. He can go _home_.

Keith is just as thrilled, grabbing Shiro by the face and pulling him in for kisses—he really, really likes kissing, Shiro has found out. "I knew you'd find it," he whispers against Shiro's lips, grateful, proud, giddy with it, "Now let's get there."

But in all their relief and joy, it's not until they try to actually _start_ the ship that they realize it's not going to make the long trip back Earth. Or make it very far at all, let alone light years. They hadn't activated it to keep from attracting any Galra or other unfavorable attention, so Shiro hadn't thought about it. He should've, and now he looks at Keith with growing panic, fearful that they're now truly stranded. But Keith surprises him with a steady calm as he investigates the ship's systems, and Shiro remembers how he'd told of growing up on Galra ships, familiar with them despite never being formally trained as a pilot or a soldier.

"It can get us just far enough to reach a spaceport. We can steal a ship there that can make the rest of the jump to Earth," Keith says, and Shiro collapses into the pilot seat again, mentally exhausted.

"Good. That's— Yeah, okay, we can do that. We can still make it." He sighs out a breath, looking at the ceiling. "I forgot how useless I am without my team."

"What?"

"Oh," Shiro says, looking back at Keith sheepishly. He'd been talking to himself and regrets letting Keith hear it. "I just. Back on Earth we always train as a unit, everyone occupying an important position. I'm just a pilot, though, there are a ton of those. Engineers are essential to making the ships run and without one— Well. If you weren't here with me, I'd be stuck now. Probably forever."

Keith is frowning at him, and Shiro runs his hand through his hair trying to ignore it.

"But anyway. We should take off—if we can—and get to that spaceport. Do you think they'll have food? I'm so ready for fresh food."

"I thought you were a soldier," Keith says, and Shiro shrugs, because technically he could be called him one. "That's why you were the Champion," Keith continues, "because you were the best Earth warrior, right?"

Shiro freezes, confused. The word sounds familiar—painful, a stinging in his chest—but he doesn't understand why. "I was what?"

"Of the arena," Keith continues, looking at him with concern now. "I was your prize."

"I don't—" Shiro shakes his head, trying to sift through memories and swallow down on the anger at Keith calling himself a _prize_. He just remembers being abducted, meeting Keith, and now being free. He looks at his Galra hand, knowing why it's there and who gave it to him, but he can't recall now how long he's had it. It feels like it's always been there, even though he knows that's not true. He looks back up at Keith and tries to think about meeting him—he remembers the cell, Keith being tossed inside, that prison too familiar after too much time spent trapped there to forget. But if he ever left the cell, he can't picture it. Just blank stretches, time in the dark dragging on and on and on, convincing him that he'd never be able to get out.

"I— If there was an arena, I don't... I can't remember." His head feels foggy now, unsettled and disturbed that he tried to reach in and find what may or may not be there. 

"Nevermind," Keith says suddenly, his tone definite and final. Shiro lifts his head as Keith steps between his knees where he sits and brings both hands up to his hair. Keith's fingers massage against the sides of his head and Shiro lets his eyes fall closed, relaxing and sinking out of the fog. "It doesn't matter. We're leaving the Galra behind and you're going to fly us to Earth now. That's what's important."

"Okay," Shiro agrees, lifting his arms to wrap around Keith's middle. He rests his cheek on Keith's belly and smiles when he feels the baby shift beneath him. It grounds him and he places a grateful kiss to it, peeking up at Keith when he feels his mind has settled down. "Thank you."

Keith nods, and the two get ready to take off. Making sure the doors shut properly so they don't get sucked into space is an important step, and getting off the ground is hard when the engines stutter and cough, but eventually they manage. Shiro pilots this time, Keith reading the Galran controls for him, and the ship shakes as they leave the atmosphere but stays safely in one piece.

The trip to the spaceport is a slow three days—Keith shows him where the ship keeps time so he can track the hours, the blackness of space unhelpful for telling how much time is passing. Both of them take turns at the helm while the other rests, they chat a little, and Shiro is always eager to check on how Keith is feeling, if the baby is alright, but otherwise they stay focused and quiet, tension filling the ship as they wait to see their destination. There's a chance the map is outdated and there is no spaceport where they're headed—Keith said the Marmora told him about it years ago and he has no idea if they updated or tinkered with it before he took it—and Shiro is holding his breath because he expects another obstacle. He's faced so many already, though they're easier to tackle now that he has Keith with him.

Just over seventy hours after they leave their jungle planet haven, Shiro spots it in the console display. A shape that grows larger the closer they get, a large grey station, surrounded by smaller vessels coming and going.

"We made it," he whispers. Keith is asleep on the floor by the console and Shiro kneels out of the pilot chair, shaking him as gently as he can despite his joy. "Keith. Keith, we made it," he says as Keith blinks his eyes open. He smiles when he realizes what Shiro is saying and reaches an arm up, letting Shiro pull him onto his feet.

As they approach, Shiro wonders if they'll be hailed, asked who's on board and their purpose investigated, but perhaps because their ship is Galran they get no questions, no red tape to hold them up before they land in the hangar.

The doors struggle to open, but Shiro jams them apart just wide enough for them both to slip through and he leads Keith by the hand quickly to a different ship. There's no gravity in here, allowing the ships to park anywhere and their crews to move heavy parts and cargo with ease, and amongst the crowds of aliens and machinery, no one takes note of a human and a half-human floating around.

"Can you tell which ships can warp the distance to get to Earth?"

Keith shakes his head. "Maybe if I got inside one. I know Galra ships but these are too varied."

Shiro considers this, looking around. "Any that carry cargo may be the best kind to start with, they'd be more likely to travel far, right?"

"Yeah, that sounds—" Keith starts, but goes silent.

Shiro turns to Keith after a few more moments, confused when he doesn't continue his thought, and sees him doubled over with both of his hands holding his stomach.

"Keith?" he hisses, suddenly fearful. They should have more time left. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

Keith opens his mouth, but the words are swallowed up by a sharp yelp and he shakes his head rapidly side to side. Shiro doesn't push him to answer, knowing if the pain is too much to speak, it's not worth sitting here hoping it goes away. He drifts forward, wrapping his arms around Keith's back and under his legs, and propels himself with a hard kick against the ship they'd been floating near.

"Hey!" he calls out to a large purple alien reading a list of cargo in front of its shuttle. It looks like a permanently groggy giraffe mixed with a biped and some kind of squid as it turns its long neck towards him. "Is there a sickbay here? A doctor? It's an emergency."

The giraffe-squid raises a tentacle and points towards a door on the other side of the hangar with what Shiro hopes is an interplanetary symbol for first aid. He gives the alien a nod in thanks and kicks off its clipboard to float faster upwards. Keith is gasping and grabbing at his belly, looking so frightened, and Shiro tries to keep his voice steady as he promises that they'll get help soon and everything will be fine. He reaches the door and slams through it with his shoulder, bursting into a crowd of very startled aliens who all look up from their magazines. It's jarringly similar to a waiting room back on Earth, startling Shiro into floating there uselessly for a few moments before Keith gasps again and snaps him out of it.

He kicks towards what he hopes is the appointment desk and lifts Keith in his arms, hoping they can see that he's in pain and know how to help.

"He needs a doctor."

An alien that looks part reptile, part pastry gives him a very blank look with all twelve of their eyes, as if they get this all the time. "This area is for emergencies for registered employees only. I don't see any ID. Ship and cargo accidents and licensed crew members come here, you need to go to the general area."

"What? Please, he's in pain, we need to see someone _now_." 

But the alien looks unmoved, sliding a spaceport directory across the desk. Shiro is close to climbing over it and throttling them, infuriated that after all he and Keith have been through and how long they've waited, he can't help Keith now because of some space bureaucracy. But before he snaps, a hand pats his arm and he barely stops himself from shoulder checking the stranger out of anger.

"It's fine, I'll see them," a humanoid creature with teal skin says. If he were more purple, Shiro would think he's Galran which sets his nerves on edge. His fingers tighten on Keith out of reflex, wanting to keep him away.

"But Doctor—"

"I'll take care of it," he says, and gives the pastry-shaped desk clerk a stern look before stepping back and waving his arm towards one of the halls before leading Shiro away. 

"Can you do anything for him?" Shiro asks, trailing a ways behind who he hopes is a doctor. He's keyed up with suspicion, but Keith is still gasping in pained breaths with his hands clenched around his belly and Shiro's desperate enough to get him help to ignore his gut feeling. But he's also ready to bolt, keeping a careful distance between them and the alien.

"Yes, it should be quite simple. He's pregnant, correct?"

Shiro's fingers tighten their grip again. "Yes."

"You likely didn't prepare for the transition to zero-G. His organs are being beaten around by the weight of the fetus not being held in place by a decent amount of gravity, and the sudden change may have also triggered a few early contractions." The alien glances back at Keith over his shoulder. "You acted quickly, so we can prevent him from going into premature labor if the contractions are serious. In here."

They reach a room and the alien stands at the door, holding it open for Shiro to float through. He eyes it warily, but one glance down at Keith's sweaty, pained face and he makes his way inside. Even if it's a trap, he knows he can probably over power _one_ alien... he just hopes there isn't backup on the way. 

"Now. I'll have to ask the two of you a question," the doctor says as he hits a button by the door. It shuts slowly, and following a short beep, Shiro feels himself start to sink back to the floor until he's standing upright, no longer weightless. Keith feels heavier in his arms and he has to adjust his footing to keep from losing his balance, but he refuses to let go of him, not sure if Keith can stand on his own yet. The alien doesn't seem bothered by this and stares sharply at Keith's face.

"Ask already," Shiro demands the longer the alien stares. His heart is thumping loudly and his palm is growing sweaty, his body tensing up and ready to fight.

Yellow eyes snap up to meet Shiro's and within seconds, a blade is pulled out of seemingly nowhere as the alien advances on them. Shiro slowly steps backwards until he hits the wall, his eyes darting around at the empty room for anything to use but there's nothing but blank walls and the door and Shiro knows they were brought in here to die. He has no intention of letting that happen, and one alien isn't going to be hard to take care of, it's just a matter of keeping Keith safe.

He's quickly analyzing his choices when the alien asks, "Where did you get that uniform?" 

Shiro frowns, confused why he cares, but before he can answer Keith startles him when he speaks up through gritted teeth, "It was given to me by the Blade of Marmora."

He pushes at Shiro's arm to be put down but Shiro only lets him go when he sees the alien has stopped moving, his eyes wide and alert. Shiro slowly lowers Keith onto the floor but keeps his hands on Keith's shoulders to help him stay steady as Keith pulls his blade from its hidden sheath on his back and holds it between them.

"And this is my blade, inherited from my father," he says as it shifts from tiny dagger to long, sharp sword, and the alien's expression turns relieved. His own blade shrinks and he stashes it beneath his uniform, giving Keith a nod. Shiro feels a bit bewildered, adrenaline still pumping through him, but Keith is looking and sounding a little better, less pale and his hands no longer clawing at himself, and they don't have a big sword pointed at them anymore so he focuses on that.

"Then I may help you, though we have limited time. Your companion is dressed as a Galra prisoner, which won't have escaped notice," he explains as he walks to one of the bare walls and presses a hand to it. Shiro looks down at himself and grimaces. It's not like he has anything else to wear, but the Marmora agent is right, and barging into the medical area and making a scene probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he'd been panicking. When he looks up, a long shelf has popped out from the wall and the alien picks a container from it, then holds it out for Keith. "One of these tablets will stop contractions if you get any more to prevent preterm labor, but the pain will continue as long as you're anywhere in the station that is zero-G. Why have you come here?"

"We need a ship. To get to Earth."

"Earth?" he repeats, pressing the shelf back into the wall. 

"For Voltron. The Marmora have sent me to retrieve one of the lions before Zarkon," Keith says. It's only partly a lie, and Shiro does his best to keep his face blank and not betray the real reasoning behind their plan.

The agent looks shocked for a moment, then nods. "Then you must get out of here quickly, Galra patrols and stopovers are common. They will think I've brought you back here to be detained, so you must knock me unconscious and head back to the ship hangar to leave. Continue down this hall until you reach an elevator, take it to the bottom floor to the janitorial passageways and follow those back to the hangar. You'll probably be able to find clothes down there as well, find anything not visibly Galran and you'll keep attention off of you."

"Thank you," Shiro says, now feeling guilty for being so untrusting. But the alien turns to him coldly, looking unhappy to also be assisting him.

"I don't know why you've been included on a Marmora mission, but I assume you're to blame for his condition. Do you have any idea what you're jeopardizing?"

It takes Shiro a second to realize he's talking about Keith's pregnancy and his hands squeeze around Keith's shoulders, suddenly furious that it's being talked about like some disgraceful inconvenience—forgetting that, at the beginning, that's not far off from what it had been for them both. 

The Marmora agent continues, either oblivious to or unconcerned by Shiro's growing anger, "Your foolish behavior may have already compromised you both, you'll be lucky to get out of here alive. If you have any sense, you'll stay behind and stop from further—"

His rant stops abruptly when Keith punches him square in the chest followed by a smack to the head with the butt of his sword. The alien drops to the floor, unconscious, leaving Shiro a mix of shocked and relieved.

"Keith?"

"What? He said we had to knock him out," Keith says, giving him a shrug as he makes his blade revert to its smaller, easier to hide shape before sheathing it again. "Now let's go."

"Wait, wait," Shiro says, his hands sliding down to squeeze around Keith's and hold him still. "As soon as we step out of here, you'll be in pain again, because of the light gravity here, remember? You might have to move slow, which we can't afford if the Galra do show up."

Keith's eyebrows furrow as his eyes narrow, irritation filling his face. "So? What, you want me to just sit here while _you_ go fetch us a ship?"

Shiro shakes his head. What he _wants_ is for Keith not to feel any pain at all, but to get out of here they apparently can't avoid it. But he can't deny that there's a risk, made higher because of him, that the Galra will easily find them, and as much as the thought of going back to that hellish dark prison terrifies him, he won't— he _can't_ let them lay a hand on Keith. Even if it costs him everything.

"Just listen. He was right," Shiro says, feeling shaky as he shoots a glance to the knocked out Marmora agent on the floor, "If we run into any Galra, I'm going to run ahead and make them follow me, okay?"

"No—" Keith tries to argue immediately, but Shiro keeps going.

"They're going to be looking for me regardless. You called me Champion, right? I was some big shot, I escaped, and I've got this Galra tech arm. If they see me, they probably won't stop until they've captured me again. But you? They don't know you. You can get out of here as long as you aren't with me. Promise me you'll get out of here without me if you have to."

"But— I need you. To get to Earth, I need you!"

"No, you don't," Shiro says, smiling despite the painful knot in his gut and the growing wobbliness of his legs. "I found Earth on that map, and now you can get there without me. You _have to_. Whether for this Voltron mission or for yourself, after everything you've done to get this far, you have to get there, okay? Me, I don't need to make it. But you do."

"But— You have to tell your Garrison. You have to warn them!"

"You can do that if I'm not there. You'll save Earth for me, I know you will," he says, believing it with all his heart. He lets go of Keith then and walks to the door, pressing the buttons to open it. The gravity starts to lessen immediately and Shiro looks back at Keith, watching to see how much pain he starts to feel but he already looks miserable as he drifts up from the floor.

"You were never planning on staying with me, were you? " Keith asks, his voice small.

Shiro floats back to him, reaches out to take his wrist and when Keith doesn't shake him off, he pulls Keith forward to kiss his cheek. He runs a hand through Keith's hair, wishing Keith would look at him, but he won't now. Shiro kisses him on the crown of his head this time and breathes into his hair, preparing himself for it to be the last time.

"You've saved me so many times already, Keith," Shiro whispers into his hair, "It has to be my turn eventually."

Keith says nothing to that and lets Shiro tug him into the hallway and towards the elevator. There's defeat in the sag of his shoulders until the pain of the zero-G on his body makes him hunch over and breathe hard through his nose again. Shiro rubs a hand over his back as he keeps them drifting forward, cold dread beginning to crawl down his own spine. He hasn't seen any sign of the Galra yet but he can't shake the feeling that they will, that he'll wind up caught and trapped again.

 _As long as Keith gets out, it'll be worth it,_ he tells himself, desperate to make himself believe it.

The elevator is large when it finally arrives and they float into it, clearly built to accommodate aliens much larger than Shiro has seen, or at least remembers seeing. Maybe as the Champion he took down creatures several stories tall. He hits the button on the bottom, hoping it'll take them to the right place and the elevator moves slow to keep them from being pinned against the ceiling as it descends, but they still float a bit higher as they travel to the lower levels. Shiro hasn't let go of Keith, and he's grateful that Keith hasn't shaken him off either, letting Shiro stroke down his back as he shivers and hisses in pain. It's possible they'll both get out of here without seeing a single Galra soldier and all their worrying will be for nothing, but considering how much has happened to him so far, he doubts his luck would ever be that good.

As the door slides open once they reach the bottom floor, things look clear for a moment and Shiro starts to float out until the lizard-pastry desk clerk suddenly skitters in front of him, their elongated toes keeping them attached to the floor. Shiro freezes, using one hand to pull Keith behind him and hopefully out of view.

"Oh. Here it is," the alien says, starting to look smug as a unit of Galran sentries surround her, forming a perimeter around the elevator, "We were just coming up to pay you a visit."

Shiro's mind goes blank for a moment, his hand on Keith squeezing, not wanting to let go.

"Shiro—?" he hears from behind him, and it propels him forward as he shoves Keith away to gain his momentum.

"Shiro!" Keith shouts as he glides towards the back of the elevator while Shiro slams a bunch of buttons on the console on his way out of it, hoping there aren't Galra waiting on every floor for Keith. He grabs the door, his Galra hand already burning with energy as he _pulls_ , wrenching the metal shut and keeping Keith safe inside it. The sentries don't realize what's happening quick enough and only start to shoot at him after he's kicked off the now inoperable door and grabs the desk clerk, tossing them into the nearest sentry and spinning it off balance, unable to right itself and target him in the zero-G. He blocks the shots of energy from their guns with reflexes he doesn't know—or has forgotten—that he has and kicks off the floor to slam his fist through the nearest robot's head, grabbing its gun and firing at the others.

He's cleared out most of them when he hears voices of approaching Galra and he looks around hastily, searching for which way to go. He crumples the head of the last sentry and floats towards a wall to rocket off of it once he decides which hall to go through, but it's not quick enough as he hears the Galra shout, "Prisoner's that way!" from behind him.

The passageways are wide and hard to navigate through without gravity, his legs burning from constantly having to propel himself forward off whatever surface he floats nearest to, but he refuses to stop. Terror makes his heart pump so hard he can barely hear what they're shouting behind him over the rush of blood in his ears, but every time he glances back they're a little bit closer, their energy blasts harder to dodge and hitting him more often.

He doesn't want to go back. He's supposed to be going home, to Earth with Keith and their baby, and he wasn't supposed to be stuck in their prison in the first place. He just wanted to see the stars and explore. It isn't fair, it isn't _fair_ , and he swallows down bile that threatens to choke him, desperately trying to breathe.

Suddenly, he reaches a passageway where the further he moves down it, the stronger the gravity starts to get until he's able to run solidly against the metal, his feet pounding loudly and echoing through the halls as voices chase him. He would laugh if he had the breath in him to do it as he realizes he's gone in the opposite direction of the ships, where the gravity is its lightest. He skids to a stop, turning as he pants and feels the growing burn of his Galra hand activating. Any hope of outrunning the guards pursuing him and getting to Keith is gone now, and he's bleeding and tired and has hopefully given Keith enough time to get out.

 _Please... Please let Keith make it out,_ Shiro begs to no one in particular as the Galra soldiers and more sentries swarm him.

He fights as long as he can, his hand slicing through metal and bone, instincts he doesn't know how he learned making him move like a predator despite his exhaustion and steadily growing number of bruises and wounds from where blasters graze him, until finally he's overwhelmed. He's slammed onto the floor and feels his arm deactivate as a control ring is clipped around it, taking away his only weapon.

He's kicked at and beaten and then dragged along the ground, his vision going blurry as he fades in and out of consciousness. Every time he wakes up a bit, the panic sets in until it makes him pass out again, and the cycle repeats constantly until he hears mention of a transport shuttle to take him up to a cruiser and the realization that he's really going back makes him too alert to stay unconscious. He glances around, trying to make sense of where he is, and sees nothing but some large containers, maybe dumpsters, and a large door, presumably for ships. The gravity is still on here and he wonders if this is a private dock just for the Galra or something, confused why they've brought him here.

"Any sign of the omega?" someone above him is saying, and Shiro holds his breath, terrified of the answer.

"Nah but Sendak doesn't want to wait very long before getting back to Zarkon with what we grabbed. The shuttle he's sending is just for taking the Champion here with us, and it's not like Zarkon's hurting for omegas anyway, so who cares, right?"

"Guess so."

Shiro slowly pulls his legs in until he's kneeling rather than laying sprawled on the ground as he listens. His hands are bound behind his back but otherwise he's not tied down at all, no longer a threat with his arm neutralized. He knows he should feel sore or hurt from where he's been beaten and tossed around by the Galra soldiers but the adrenaline and fear are too strong and instead all he feels is numb and nauseous. His head swims at the dawning reality that he's being taken back. Back to the cells, dark and solitary and miserable, unsure and uncaring of how much time is passing as he resigns himself to death.

His memories of his time with the Galra have become mostly a foggy, swirling mess of blankness, nothing but sensations of stress and panic that he can still feel too viscerally, but he does remember one thing clearly. Keith's arrival, his plan, and his promise.

_If you can take me to Earth, I'll get you out of here._

Shiro's chest aches as he feels an echo of the hope Keith had brought him, and selfishly he wishes he could make it the rest of the way to Earth with him. But he shakes his head and tries to convince himself that it doesn't matter. As long as Keith stays free from the Galra and gets to Earth safe, it'll be enough.

The chatter of the Galra around him is muted, drowned out by the thoughts in his head, until a sudden wave of panic spikes through their voices. Shiro's ears perk up as he catches a clipped off voice from a radio saying, "—has left the cruiser, is heading to the spaceport, unmanned. Prepare for impact—"

A hard tremor shudders through the station and Shiro sits up on his knees while all the Galra and sentries around him look to each other with growing alarm.

"That's not possible—" 

"—unmanned? But who activated—"

"Why is it coming here?"

"—think it's gonna attack!"

Another tremor shakes the station and this time there's a loud bellow that accompanies it, sounding close. He thinks it sounds like a roar as the Galra stumble around him and shout orders to evacuate to another area, and just as one grabs at his arm to drag him along, the sound of metal rending apart freezes everyone in the dock. Something hot and bright begins to bubble up through the floor as it melts until a large beam of white light clears it away entirely and a giant, red, robot... _lion_ bursts into view.

The Galra around him begin to shout in horror as it opens its mouth to blast at them, slams its metal claws into the ground and leaves jagged holes and broken bodies in its wake. Shiro watches in bewildered shock amidst the chaos until the lion's head snaps forward and he feels it stare right at him.

"Shiro!" he hears Keith shout, and at first he thinks, _No, no! You shouldn't be here, you should be safe!_ But then louder, sharper, the fear in his chest bursts as a his heart screams with relief, _He's going to save me, Keith is here, he didn't leave me._

The lion's mouth opens as it roars again, but something comes spitting out of it too and lands next to Shiro's leg with a crack as it pierces the floor. He looks at it, confused, before realizing it's Keith's dagger and the stunned, panicking Galra don't notice as he slams against it with his arm until the control ring breaks and he can feel the energy pulse through it again. He snaps the binding on his wrists with one hard tug and grabs the dagger before leaping to his feet and bolting for the lion.

"Stop the prisoner! Shoot the lion! Do _something_!" one of them orders, overcoming his shock, but the lion swipes its front leg at the crowd of soldiers and sentries, sending them flying as Shiro runs and runs and _runs_. The lion lowers its jaw to the floor as he gets near and he leaps into its mouth, falling forward through an open door as it throws its head back and swallows him. It roars again, the sound of the beam it fires rocking through Shiro so hard his teeth chatter as he tumbles through its insides until he hits a wall. 

Lost in the lion's belly, Shiro squeezes tight around Keith's dagger like it's his lifeline as he feels the lion move, blasting and tearing its way out of the spaceport. He has no idea where it's taking them but he's away from the Galra so he doesn't care. He wants to see Keith, and as if hearing his wish, the floor beneath him moves like a conveyer belt, leading him up and up until a door opens and he's greeted with the bright red lights of a cockpit and a wide window, a huge Galra cruiser and tiny attack ships flying through the space in front of them.

"—anywhere, _anywhere_ , please, just get us _away_!" Keith is saying as the lion shakes with the impact of a Galra fighter's blast. Shiro can't see him, can only see the back of the pilot chair, but before he can move a huge light opens up in front of them, looking like a gate, and the lion speeds forward, sailing right into it.

The sudden force of what must be a warp jump pins Shiro to the door of the cockpit that had shut behind him. He groans in pain the longer they travel, feeling flattened and stuck, until they burst out of it and he's tossed forward, catching himself on the console with a hand.

"Fuck," he hisses, glancing up just in time to catch Keith staring down at him, wide-eyed.

Keith launches out of the pilot seat at the same time Shiro pushes up from the floor, dropping Keith's knife with a clatter, and they catch each other in a hug, desperate and relieved and grateful. Keith's belly makes it hard to squeeze him too tight but neither of them care, Shiro's hands roaming over Keith's shoulders, his neck, into his hair while Keith's fingers dig into his back as if clawing their way into him, never going to let go.

They breathe loud and heavily together, every one of Shiro's exhales shaky as he barely holds in tears. He'd thought it was over, and again Keith had saved him.

"Keith," Shiro whispers, finally starting to pull back. Keith's fingers tense, unwilling to let him get far. "How did—" he starts to ask, but stops, his throat squeezing. He drops his head forward, bumping Keith's forehead with his.

"It heard me," Keith says, kissing at Shiro's face. "I don't— I don't know how, but the lion, it called out to me, it found me, and when I asked it to help me save you, it did."

"Keith, I— you..." Shiro tries again, but he can't do it, shaking his head to try and push down the tears. The relief is so strong he can barely feel anything else, his knees wobbling. Keith follows him down to the floor until they're both on their knees, Keith's belly keeping them too far apart to keep their heads together. He clicks his teeth down at himself as if annoyed and finally lets go of Shiro to tug at his uniform to undress.

Shiro watches, his hands on Keith's thighs and when Keith manages to get the Marmora suit down around his belly, Shiro helps him pull it the rest of the way down his legs until it's off. Keith sits there a moment as he gathers up his knife and his clothes, round and naked, bathed in red light that makes him glow. Keith helps Shiro undress next, and Shiro marvels at the slow intimacy of it, feeling suddenly outside of himself as if he's watching from somewhere far away.

"I didn't want to leave you," he hears himself say. His vision blurs and his face feels wet as he starts to cry, the relief and near miss with grief bubbling out of him at last.

Keith's hands pause and he reaches up to Shiro's face, wiping at his cheeks. "I know. That's why I came after you." He leans forward, kissing him gently. "I couldn't do anything about it before, but now I can. I'm never being left behind again so you're stuck with me. _Us_ ," he corrects, laughing quietly down at his stomach.

Shiro lifts a hand to Keith's hair, running his fingers through it as he shakes with a heavy breath. "Thank you," he says, pulling Keith forward into another kiss.

They get the rest of Shiro's prisoner clothing off and splay it out on the floor like they did before in the ship back when they were stranded. They lie down together, Keith's back against Shiro's chest, and kiss slowly as their hands roam together, Shiro favoring Keith's belly with long drags of his fingers along his taut skin. There's nothing urgent about their closeness now, Shiro's dick staying soft between his legs for a long time even as he plays with Keith's chest, fuller now beneath his nipples, and teases his hole, fingering him where he's wet and relaxed and waiting for him.

It's a confirmation more than anything, a sharing of relief and comfort that they're both here, together and safe, and Shiro presses kisses to Keith's shoulder, his neck and behind his ear as he finally calms and the tears stop. Even when he does get hard, they don't change positions and Shiro slowly enters Keith from behind, barely moving once he's inside him. He could almost fall asleep like this, his hand resting on Keith's stomach with Keith's palm settled over it and their fingers entwined.

They've been silent so long, just kissing and humming with shared pleasure every so often that when Keith speaks up, muttering, "Quit it," Shiro startles so hard his hips jerk forward suddenly and Keith grunts.

"Sorry— Shit, you okay? I didn't mean to— " he says, trying to pull out.

"No, no, not you, stay, please, stay," Keith hisses, his hand reaching back and squeezing against Shiro's ass.

"But you, ah— you said to quit it," Shiro says with a gasp, his balls tightening when he feels Keith back up against him, determined to keep him deep inside. 

"Not you. The lion," Keith says, his hand still on Shiro's ass, "It's— It keeps, like, poking me."

"Poking you?" He feels upset at the thought of Keith being touched by anyone other than him and it's hard to shake it even after he realizes it's a ridiculous thought to have. Their alien bond from Keith's heat has long since worn off, but sometimes he feels things almost like aftershocks, as if permanently rewired somewhere deep down in his chest.

"In my head. It wants— nn, it wants me to see... something," Keith says, starting to breathe harder. Their pace is slowly building as they talk, Keith rolling his hips back against Shiro to meet him as he thrusts forward. "It can... It can wait... Shiro—"

He leans his head back so Shiro can kiss him again, a bit of urgency building as Shiro moves inside him.

"You feel good?" he asks, suddenly wanting to fill the silence. He doesn't want the lion _poking_ at Keith, in his head or otherwise.

"Yeah," Keith gasps, nodding his head back against Shiro's shoulder.

Shiro kisses at Keith's temple, fucking into him a bit harder and moaning when Keith tightens around him. "Tell me," he grunts into Keith's hair, "tell me, how does it feel to get fucked when you're so big, got our kid in you?"

Keith moans, his fingers squeezing around Shiro's hand still on his stomach. "So good, Shiro— ah— don't stop, please, I want to be full."

"I won't, baby, I won't, I'll fill you up more," he says, biting at Keith's ear and making him whine as he shifts up onto his elbow, pulling his arm out from beneath Keith so he can sit up on his knees. Keith whimpers, missing his warmth, but with Keith still laying on his side Shiro can settle over him closer now without Keith's belly keeping them apart. Keith's hands shoot up into his hair and pull him into a frenzy of kisses, biting at his lips when he won't open them quick enough. Shiro holds himself up with his Galra hand while the other roams Keith's body, sliding against his soft thigh, over his belly, up to his nipples before moving down again, finding his clit between his legs and teasing it with the pad of his thumb.

"Shiro, wait— _Nngh_ ," Keith moans, breaking away from Shiro's mouth as his body shakes. His hands tremble against Shiro's face and his eyes squeeze shut as Shiro fucks him slowly through it, kissing his face and massaging his clit until he feels Keith shudder hard, his hole squeezing tight around Shiro's cock and making his pace stutter to a halt.

"Fuck, you feel so good, Keith," Shiro mumbles, his hips jerking a few times, but he's not close to coming yet.

Keith strokes at Shiro's face when he starts to come down, blinking his eyes open. "Fill me up," he says, breathless, "I want to feel it. I want to feel more of you."

It makes Shiro moan and he grabs Keith's thigh and spreads his legs apart, rolling Keith onto his back and pulling him into his lap until Keith's legs are stretched out behind his back.

"Sorry, if it hurts, I just—" Shiro says, hoping the clothes beneath Keith's back are enough to keep him comfortable.

"It won't, it won't, I want it, please, Shiro," Keith begs, his hands dropping to his belly and holding on tight as Shiro starts to fuck him hard. Keith shouts with every thrust, his legs shaking where they squeeze around Shiro's waist, and one hand slides up to touch himself, grabbing at his chest and rubbing at his hard nipples. His belly bounces with every hard push of Shiro's cock inside him and Shiro watches it with fascination, pride swelling in him at the sight of it.

Shiro wants to see Keith like this all the time, even if he knows it's impractical and unfair and that this pregnancy won't last much longer itself. He doesn't know what they're going to do with one baby, let alone more. But he's not thinking about that. All he can see is Keith, beautiful, full and open for him, moaning like he's in heat, even though it's not some weird alien biology making him desperate to be fucked this time. Instead it's Shiro making him moan like this, his want and need for Shiro and no one else, and that makes Shiro finally come, pumping himself empty inside of Keith who's already so full but still welcoming more.

"Keith," he gasps, humping into him as his body pulses with aftershocks of his orgasm.

"Stay, stay," Keith is mumbling, shaky hands reaching up to Shiro's arms and running up and down them. He can't feel it where Keith touches his metal arm, but it comforts him to see, Keith unafraid to touch it. They stay there, still and quiet, for a long while as they start to cool down and finally catch their breath. 

"You okay? Your back isn't sore?" Shiro asks when he can think again.

"Mmhm, I'm fine. You okay? Your bruises..."

"It's fine," Shiro says, waving away Keith's concern, "Barely feel them."

Keith looks unhappy, upset that Shiro is hurt at all, and it makes Shiro so full of affection he finally pulls out of Keith so he can shift him back onto his side, letting Shiro get close enough to kiss him again.

But Keith breaks away soon after, looking annoyed as he grumbles, "Okay, _what_?" When he notices Shiro's surprised face he kisses at his face, quickly adding, "Not you, the lion."

"Why can't I hear it?" Shiro frowns, sitting up and offering Keith a hand.

"I don't know. I wish it'd start bugging you instead of me, it's getting annoying. I'm up! What do you want me to look at so bad?" Keith grumps. Shiro has to help him stand, his stomach too big for him to get up easily now. Shiro's eyes are locked on him, ignoring what's sitting outside the view of the cockpit until he sees Keith's expression shift from irritated to confused to disbelief. "Is that— " Keith starts to ask as Shiro finally looks up.

His heart nearly stops in his chest.

"Earth," Shiro breathes, and his eyes go wide at the swirling white of clouds in the atmosphere, dancing over familiar green continents and blue oceans. "It took us to Earth."

Shiro's mind begins to race, all of the things they should do, where they need to go, who they have to find first overwhelming him, but his thoughts clear away when he feels Keith's hand slide easily into his, tangling their fingers together. He looks away from the planet in front of them and meets Keith's excited look of awe with growing relief. Keith grounds him again and all of his dread and worry shifts into thrill and anticipation, knowing that with Keith by his side, he's prepared for anything.

•

The Garrison is not as welcoming as Shiro had hoped. When Keith pilots the lion down into the familiar red desert Shiro has spent so many years in, they're greeted by an armed squadron, ready to capture them. When he steps out of the lion, hands up and peaceful and gives his name, he's met with blinding spotlights and groups of armored bodies, trying to handcuff him. The lion bats them away and roars as it scoops Shiro up into its mouth and Keith flies them away without looking back.

"I don't think they want to listen," Keith says, which Shiro feels he doesn't need to point out.

"Okay... Maybe we should look for the other lion first then. Maybe they just weren't ready to stare down an alien ship and see a dead pilot come back to life all of a sudden."

"You're not dead," Keith says, sharply, like it hurts him to hear otherwise. Shiro touches a hand to his shoulder and feels Keith relax beneath it.

"They don't know that, though. Or didn't."

" _HEY!_ " a voice shouts suddenly, startling them both. Keith jerks so hard at the controls that the lion starts to nosedive and he barely pulls up in time to prevent driving right into the ground.

"What was that?" Keith asks, looking around.

" _Do you read me?_ "

"Uh. Yes?" Shiro asks, wondering if it's the lion talking to him.

" _No way, it worked! Hunk, I got it!_ "

" _Dude, that's cool and everything, but now it's like. Looking at us. I think it wants to eat us,_ " a second voice says.

" _Awww, I think it's just a nice cute kitty._ "

"Who _are_ you and how are you talking to us?" Keith demands, growing impatient.

" _Oh. Uh, up here! Hey!_ "

A screen pops up in front of them as the lion zooms in on a cliff face above them, the faces of three students sitting amidst a mess of antennae and computers, looking down at them with very different expressions—one fascinated and giddy, one terrified, the other curious.

"What do you want?" Keith asks flatly, and Shiro's surprised he's willing to entertain these strangers at all.

The shortest one, with glasses and a mop of untidy brown hair, suddenly looks very somber as they say, " _We heard the transmissions. Is Shirogane Takashi on board? Do you have the rest of the Kerberos crew?_ "

"Keith," Shiro says, his hand squeezing tight on Keith's shoulder. "Let me out up there. I have to talk to them."

"What? But what if they try to capture you like the others?"

"They won't. Please."

Keith looks wary, but he doesn't say no and he guides the lion upwards until Shiro can stand in the mouth of it, looking across to the cliff. The three students all stare at him like he's a ghost, and in that moment he really feels like one. Hollow, not really there. 

"I don't know what happened to the rest of the crew from the Kerberos mission. I'm the only one who escaped."

"Escaped?"

"Where did you go?"

"How'd you get back?"

Shiro goes a bit pale at all the questions. He takes a deep breath and says, "It's... a very long story, I can explain, but— "

"Shiro," Keith interrupts, "They're following us." On cue, spotlights and engines start to come over the hill, coming right for them. "We gotta go!"

"Not without me!" the short one shouts, leaping forward with their gadgets held tight in their arms. Shiro catches them out of reflex when they start to wobble at the edge of the lion's mouth, pulling them on.

"Wait, Pidge, what are you—"

"We're dead if they catch us out here! Move, Lance!" the big one yells, pushing the other one forward and soon the lion has a mouthful of all of them.

"Keith, take off!" Shiro calls and they start to move immediately, the lion swallowing them as Keith flies them quickly out of sight. Shiro doesn't pay much attention to the group once they make it up to the cockpit, joining Keith's side. "We have to find the other lion, either before they do or before they catch _us_."

"Are you looking for Voltron?"

Shiro and Keith both whip their heads around, staring sharply at the small one—Pidge—who shrinks back against the consoles a bit in surprise.

"How do you know that name?" Keith asks.

"I-It was on the space radio chatter. The aliens have been talking about it for a while now, and it's gotten even louder lately, I think because you two got here."

"What else did they say?" Shiro asks, glancing at Keith whose fingers tighten around the controls.

"That... that they're sending something here. A ship, I think."

He'd thought, for a moment, that he was free. But of course he was wrong. The Galra are already on their way, relentless in their chase. 

"We have to find the other lion. We can't let the Galra get it," Shiro says, dread snaking up his spine. His vision starts to dim and his feet become unsteady as the fear creeps back into him, but a hand finds his shoulder and a voice calls him back.

"We'll find it," Keith promises, watching him with concern.

It makes Shiro laugh shakily when Keith's voice so easily pushes away his dread, a soft breath that pushes out of him as he thinks about the way things have changed between them, Keith comforting him now. He leans in and kisses Keith gratefully before he remembers they have an audience, and the sudden silence when they break apart makes Shiro's face turn steadily redder until Pidge is the first to speak up.

"Wow."

"Get a room."

"I think, uh, this _is_ their room. I thought it smelled like sex in here."

"Hunk, what the hell do you know about how sex smells?!"

"Enough!" Shiro shouts, his face burning. Everyone quiets down and he lets out a long, drawn out sigh. "We need to find the other lion, and then..."

He stares out at the red desert, unwelcoming and expansive and empty, but still _home_ , and remembers why Keith came here. It wasn't to play keep-away with the Galra forever. He has a family to find. A family to start... Shiro knows that either choice he makes is selfish, whether he stays with Keith and leaves Voltron to the Galra or leaves Keith behind to take care of the baby himself. Shiro turns to look at Keith where he sits in the pilot seat and drops his hand to Keith's shoulder.

He's more self-conscious now that he's aware of their company, but he's not shy or hesitant when he says, "Keith, listen. I don't want to leave you to do this on your own, but I don't... I don't think I can stay and help you find your father. If the Galra are already on their way, then the Earth isn't safe and I have to do something. If these lions— if Voltron really can do what your resistance thinks it can, I have to find it. I don't want to abandon you to do this by yourself, but I can't stay. I'm so sorry."

But Keith is looking up at him with wide eyes and furrowed eyebrows, bewildered.

"What are you talking about? I'm not staying on Earth."

"What?" Shiro asks, his turn to be confused. "But... the whole reason you came here— "

"Doesn't matter. If the Earth's in danger, then I might not even find him before the Galra destroy the planet anyway. I'm staying with you."

Shiro opens his mouth to argue, not wanting Keith to throw away everything, forgetting that he's sacrificed so much to get here so suddenly. But he stops, remembering that Keith isn't impulsive. He's smart, and he can tell when something can be accomplished, what he can and can't do to make it happen, and makes his choices fully informed before he acts. He's already thought this through, already anticipating Shiro's decision, and has made his own knowing what Shiro would feel he has to do. Shiro starts to smile and he drops a kiss on the top of Keith's head, ruffling his hair as he pulls back.

"Okay," Shiro says with a nod. Keith looks a bit surprised, like he'd expected an argument about this. "It'll be good having you stick around to save my ass."

Keith grins back at him, glowing with joy, and if not for Lance making a gagging noise behind him, he'd lean down and kiss him again, and he's not sure he'd be able to stop.

"Hey guys?"

Shiro turns behind him to Hunk who's narrowing his eyes at something on one of the screen windows.

"What is it?"

"You're looking for another one of these lion things, right? Isn't this a radar? I think it's already found it."

"Then tell me where to go, big guy," Keith says.

•

Four lions, two Alteans, one castle and a handful of fights against the Galra later, it's a while before Shiro and Keith can find a moment alone together. By the time they finally do, Shiro has a feeling it will be their last one for a long time, Keith's belly so rounded out he looks like he could give birth any day now.

They're in Keith's room, spooning skin to skin in the dark with their hands slowly dragging up and down along Keith's stomach as they rest together, when Shiro asks, "Have you thought of a name yet?"

Coran's been the most excited about the naming process for some reason, and Shiro can see the pile of pages Coran has given Keith in the corner of his room with all of his suggestions.

"I want you to choose one."

"Me?"

"Mm. Something from Earth. I don't know Earth names."

"What, you don't want to name the baby after Uncle Lance?" he teases.

Shiro gets a sharp elbow in the gut for that, leaving him wheezing as Keith lowly warns, "Call him that again and I'm jettisoning you out into space."

"Right. Sorry," Shiro says, smiling despite the pain. He rubs at his probably bruised abdomen a bit before scooting closer again, burying his nose in Keith's hair as he ruminates on a name to fit their baby.

Back when they were stranded, they'd talked once or twice about language and how bizarre it is to Shiro that out in space everyone can understand each other, when back on Earth a person can travel ten minutes and meet someone speaking a completely different dialect, even within the same country. Keith had asked about what languages Shiro knew, and Shiro had ended up giving him a mini crash course before showing him how to write his name in kanji out in the sand by the water, explaining what each character meant.

"Akira," he says, the character for morning sunlight making his chest feel tight. It's the perfect name for something that helped pull him out of the darkness.

"Akira... I like it," Keith says, nodding. He pushes away Shiro's hand and Shiro holds his arm up, letting Keith roll onto his back, before dropping it back down to Keith's belly. He never wants to stop touching it. "Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Keith asks suddenly, looking anxiously into Shiro's eyes.

Allura has been suggesting they leave the baby on any peaceful planet they come by to keep it out of harm's way, warning that as paladins, they'll never be able to guarantee a safe life in the castle. Shiro sees the merit in the idea, but Keith has been the most resistant and after everything, Shiro won't make him do that. He doesn't want to give the baby away either, even if it's selfish.

He presses a soft kiss to Keith's temple and makes his hand stop moving, though he keeps his thumb brushing against Keith's skin.

"I don't know if it's the right thing," he says, knowing Keith wants honesty, not placating. "But Zarkon is after the entire known universe, and he has most of it under his control already. If we die before we can stop him, the baby won't be safe _anywhere_. It may as well stay here with us, where the castle has everything to accommodate it and we'll know that it's safe, instead of leaving it somewhere just to come back and find the Galra have gotten there first."

Keith looks down at his stomach, both of his hands sliding down its sides as the baby shifts beneath them. He looks unsatisfied, and Shiro frowns.

"But if you've changed your mind... if you think it's better to leave the baby behind— "

"No," Keith says, immediate. "I won't leave him."

Shiro feels a knot of worry start to untangle in his chest that he hadn't noticed was there before, letting out a sigh as he finds one of Keith's hands with his and slots their fingers together. 

"Then we'll keep him safe, and destroy Zarkon to keep the rest of the universe safe, too." It takes a second for it to register what he just said. "Wait a minute. You said 'him.' You think it's a boy?"

"Most Galra turn out to be," Keith says with a shrug, then pauses. "He'll be more human than Galra, though... right?"

Shiro realizes Keith is afraid of the baby possibly coming out purple.

"Technically, yeah," Shiro says, doing the math in his head. One full human parent and one half-human, half-Galra-with-some-Altean parent would make the baby less than a fourth Galra. Hopefully it's a recessive gene. "But he's going to be amazing. Whatever he is."

Keith's worry fades into a slowly widening smile and he nods before shifting closer, kissing Shiro gently in the dark.

For a moment it feels like they're back in that jungle, just the two of them, safe in their crashed ship with a map of the galaxy dancing around above them. Shiro remembers the last time he'd kissed Keith there like this, what he'd been too afraid to say.

"Keith," Shiro says against Keith's lips, and Keith pulls back just enough to look at him curiously. He brings his hand up to Keith's hair, running his fingers through it and settling it against Keith's cheek. Shiro feels warm and brave when Keith smiles at him, and finally, he says, "I love you, baby."

Keith's eyes go wide, and then he stretches both his arms up and slides them around Shiro's neck, pulling him as close as he can.

"I love you," Keith whispers into Shiro's shoulder, holding onto him as if he plans to never, ever let go.

Shiro let's Keith squeeze him tight as he kisses at Keith's ear and his hair until he feels Keith's arms start go slack, drifting to sleep. Shiro is careful and gentle as he slowly helps Keith roll over onto his side, knowing how uncomfortable he gets when he falls asleep on his back, and spoons up against him again. 

It's hard for Shiro to believe he deserves this, that he can hold onto it and keep it. But when Keith's hand searches for his, finding him and pulling him closer even in his sleep, Shiro lets Keith convince him that he does, that he can, and that he will.


End file.
